Holiday Invitational

Girls Soccer Tournament

By Jeremy Rasmussen
St. Petersburg Times. ©1998

TAMPA – Gaither earned a berth in the semifinals of the Holiday Invitational with a 6-0 win over Tampa Prep on Monday. The Cowboys will face Manatee, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A, today at 9 at Tampa Prep.

Gaither (10-1-2) was the only Hillsborough team to advance to the second round after compiling a 2-0-1 record in round-robin play. Meanwhile, Durant (9-1-1) fell 1-0 Martin County and was eliminated.

""We gave up one goal in the tournament, and we don’t advance. That’s amazing,’’ Durant coach Dick Sheffield said.

The Cougars came out strong in the first 20 minutes and narrowly missed on chances by Pam Mattheus and #5.

Then, after colliding with a defender on a header attempt, Mattheus had to come out of the game with a sore back. The Tigers (11-3) immediately began to press their attack, and were able to keep the Cougars at bay with hard, aggressive defense.

Martin County got the game-winner midway through the second half on a defensive lapse. When Durant failed to clear a loose ball in the penalty box, Kristin Levesque got a toe on it to send it into the corner of the goal.

In the Gaither match, the Cowboys got a pair of goals each from Jessica Robinson and Michalene Cadiz and kept the Terrapins bottled up in their own end for much of the game.

Despite a 3-0 loss to Durant on Saturday, Lake Gibson advanced to the second round to face Martin County today after tying Tallahassee Lincoln 2-2 on Monday.

Holiday Invitational

Standings after Round Robin Play

Group One:

Team         W  L  T  GF  GA
Martin Co.   3  0  0   6   0
Gaither      2  0  1  13   0
Durant       2  1  0   6   1
Land O'Lakes 0  3  0   0  11
Tampa Prep   0  3  0   0  12

Group Two:

Team         W  L  T  GF  GA
Manatee      3  0  0   8   0
Lake Gibson  1  1  1   6   5
Berkeley     1  1  1   3   6
Geo. Jenkins 0  1  2   2   5
Lincoln      0  1  2   2   6

Second Round:

Semifinal 1: Manatee vs, Gaither at Tampa Prep, 9 a.m.

Semifinal 2: Martin County vs. Lake Gibson at Blackwatch, 9 a.m.

Finals at Tampa Prep:

Consolation: 1 p.m.

Championship: 3 p.m.

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