District 4 Playoffs
District 4 Playoffs
LAKELAND – Seminole Presbyterian meets Lakeland Christian tonight at 7 in a rematch of last year’s District 4 Fall Soccer Tournament final.
The Lancers (17-5-1) beat upstart Tampa Baptist 2-0 in one semifinal on Thursday, while the Vikings (14-2-1) knocked off Tampa Prep 4-0.
In the first game, eighth grader Bryan Clark collected a pass from Brian Samilian at the top of the box and booted in his third goal of the year to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead five minutes into the match.
Midway through the second half, Seminole got an insurance goal on Bryan Dearolf’s penalty kick after David Bresnahan was taken down in the box.
Tampa Baptist (5-10-1) was a surprise semifinalist after its 3-1 upset win over All Saints on Tuesday. ""We sort of underachieved during the season, but we stepped up in the post season,’’ Tampa Baptist coach Rich Bolick said.
The state champion Vikings got two first half goals from Jonathon Streets en route to their semifinal win. Tampa Prep (8-7-2) was without the services of playmaking midfielder Matt Assing, who received a red card in the team’s last regular season game again St. John Neuman.
""Without (Assing), it was hard for us to create a lot up front,’’ Terrapion assistant John Tringo said. ""We held them to few scoring chances in the first half, but we just started wearing down.’’
Lakeland Christian cruised to an 8-2 win in the season opener against Seminole Presbyterian, but according to coach Dean Johnson, the Vikings still have a lot of respect for the Lancers.
""They’ve beaten a lot of tough teams since then,’’ Johnson said. ""We expect a real battle.’’
-- Jeremy Rasmussen, St. Petersburg Times, 10/30/98 ©1998.