Tampa semifinal results

Jesuit powers to region final

By ERIC RANGUS
©St. Petersburg Times, published March 11, 1998

TAMPA -- Sometimes, 80-minute soccer games can be decided in, oh, a few seconds.

Forty-one seconds to be exact.

At 17:04 in the first half, a Bennett Walters header opened the scoring for Jesuit in its regional semifinal matchup against Winter Haven Tuesday night. At 17:45, Shea Helmle added a second goal off an assist from Jody Keller, and the Tigers were well on their way to a 4-1 victory and a regional final game at North Fort Myers Friday night.

Asked if that spurt took the wind out of his team, Winter Haven coach Manny Hepburn said no.

"We've given up two goals quickly before," he said. "We were overwhelmed by the passing and discipline of the other team."

And Jesuit (26-1-3) hasn't even hit its stride yet, coach Bob Bauman said.

"We weren't 100 percent focused coming into this game," he said. "We need to be more consistent. We had some brilliant play tonight, and there were other times when we were just playing kickball."

It was more than enough to dispose of the Blue Devils (12-5-5), however. Jesuit didn't exactly pepper Blue Devil goalie Ryan McCarthy with shots, but it did control the tempo of the game throughout, never allowing Winter Haven to get on track. Although the Tigers managed just 11 shots on goal, they allowed only three. Winter Haven's lone goal was cosmetic, too, coming on a Zachary Orr shot with 12 minutes left in the game and Jesuit already up, 4-0.

A Jeremy Poklemba penalty kick put Jesuit ahead, 3-0, two minutes before halftime; and a brilliant individual effort by Helmle (he juked two Blue Devils defenders and left-footed a 15-yard shot past McCarthy) got him his second goal of the night and closed out Jesuit's scoring in the 60th minute.

3A-South I: Experience pays off for Bucs

SARASOTA -- Three of the last four years, Berkeley Prep has won or lost state championships on penalty kicks, so when it came down to a shootout in Tuesday's match against Sarasota Cardinal Mooney, the Buccaneers had a bit of experience.

Berkeley Prep used that experience as goalkeeper Dean Aranoutakis stopped two penalty shots and seldom-used senior John Atkins provided the game-winner as the Buccaneers defeated the Cougars 2-1 in triple overtime at Cougar Field.

The match remained tied after the first shootout when both teams converted four of five penalty kicks. In the second shootout, Berkeley's Justin Sachs and Atkins both scored, while Mooney went 1-for-2 as Aranoutakis preserved the victory when he stopped Sebastian Marin's shot.

Aranoutakis' brother, George, could have won the match for the Cougars on the final shot of the first shootout, but his attempt was wide right for Berkeley's only miss against Mooney keeper Andrew Foley.

"Dean really came up big time," said Berkeley Prep coach Dave Zimmerman after watching his goalie stop two of seven penalty kicks and deflect two others. "He touched every ball they shot and in practice I've never seen him get that far to the corners. Dean's a gamer and he came up big throughout the whole game with quality saves."

The District 12 runnerup Buccaneers (12-14-3) won their second straight road match, and now head to Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest Academy in Friday's regional final.

"We played an extremely talented team," said Zimmerman. "We knew we were going to have to play some defense and keep our composure. If we didn't, we knew (Mooney) was going to pick us apart."
-- ROB MARINO

6A-North II: Lepley keys Bulls to 5-0 victory

WEST PALM BEACH -- Midfielder Matt Lepley scored twice and goalkeeper John Gustafson made 14 saves to power Bloomingdale to an easy 5-0 victory over host Wellington. The win moved the Bulls to within one win of the state final four.

Bloomingdale (23-1-1) opened the scoring in the 10th minute, appearing to catch Wellington (17-2-3) off guard as Paul Sanders deflected a throw in from Steve Fogelsong past Wellington goalkeeper Chris Keyes.

The score remained 1-0 until the 26th minute, when a wide open Lepley scored his first goal from 16 yards on a give-and-go to make it 2-0 at halftime. Lepley added another goal in the 16th minute of the second half.

"The coach said he wanted a lot of give-and-go plays," Lepley said. "The first one, I hit pretty good. My second goal popped up off a defender about 12 yards out and I just put it through."

Bloomingdale coach Dave Tennian said his club appeared to learn its lesson after surviving a shootout to beat Gaither in the quarterfinals.

"I think we played outstanding," Tennian said. "We had a little wake up call from the last game, and the guys made sure it didn't happen again." Tennian said his team also survived the physical aspects of a rather loosely called game.

"They were very physical, but we fought hard. We went in on the tackles, and it was an overall team effort," he said.

Bloomingdale added two goals in the second half, with Brandon Hancock scoring on a penalty kick in the 23rd minute after Wellington was called for pushing, and Chris Gatlyn closed out the scoring from 7 yards in the 27th minute.

Wellington's biggest threat came in the 25th minute of the first half, when a shot from Ehsan Esmaeili went just over the crossbar. Keyes made 10 saves for Wellington.

Bloomingdale advanced to the regional final.

Wellington coach Jeff Gardella credited a superior Bloomingdale effort.

"Every kid on that team plays hard for 80 minutes. Every kid on that team is disciplined," Gardella said. "They are doing everything we are trying to instill in our program." -- SCOTT KRAFT

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