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Copyright Times Publishing Co. Dec 21,
2003
Jesuit and Brandon were lucky: Only one of the Tigers' and
Eagles' games came down to
penalty kicks in Saturday's opening of the Student Sports
Invitational.
Palm Harbor University had to go through
it twice, as did Seminole. Since there is no
overtime,
several games came down to PK's.
Brandon plays Palm Harbor on Monday for a
trip to the Elite championship bracket,
and Jesuit, which
won both its games Saturday, has to go through Miami Virela
to earn
a
shot at the title.
There are four pools with four teams each, and one team from
each pool advances to
the championship bracket, play for which begins Monday.
Brandon lost its first game 2-1 (6-5) in
penalty kicks to Hialeah American. The Eagles led
1-0 on an
a goal from Andy Skiffington for most of the game, but
American tied it with
three minutes to play. In Brandon's
second game the Eagles handled Jacksonville Bolles
easily,
holding on to a 2-0 halftime lead. Skiffington and Ryan
Teneyck scored.
Both of Palm Harbor's games went to
penalty kicks, and freshman goalie Phil
Xanthondakis,
normally a reserve, came up with huge saves in wins over
Bolles and
American.
The Hurricanes had to come back in both games, especially
difficult in the second game
against a quick, balanced and skilled American team.
American was up 1-0 when Steven
Whiteside scored on a scissor kick in the 47th minute. After
another American goal
David Cole tied the game at 2 in the 62nd minute. The
Hurricanes won 4-3 in penalty
kicks when American's opportunity to tie went over the goal.
The main thing Palm Harbor coach Juan
Pablo Pinzon said he knows about Brandon is it
won the state championship last season. And the only time
Brandon coach Allen Ware
has seen the Hurricanes play was two years ago, when they
won the state title.
"I know that they're good and we have to be on our game to
contend with them,"
Ware said.
Although both teams were tied for the
lead in their pool, the loser of the game could
be going
home if American beats Bolles.
Jesuit beat Tallahassee Lincoln in
penalty kicks in its first game. The Tigers came back
in the
second to beat St. Augustine Nease 2-0. Sophomore Xaviero
Pecora scored both
gaols in the second half.
Defending state champion Seminole faced
Servite, the defending state champ from
California, in its
second game. The Warhawks played Servite to a 2-2 tie but
fell 5-4 in
penalty kicks. Since Seminole won its first game
1-0 in penalty kicks over Palm Beach,
the Warhawks are in
contention to play for a spot in the consolation bracket.
Plant lost both its games and is out of
the running.
Premier bracket
CITRUS PARK - Berkeley Prep dominated, Bloomingdale got some
measure of revenge
and Clearwater Central Catholic stayed alive in the Premier
bracket of the Student
Sports Invitational Radice Park.
The host Buccaneers stayed unbeaten at
8-0-1 after pounding Louisiana Northside 7-1
and Countryside 4-0. Tyler Davis had a pair of goals in each
game.
"Our level of confidence (against
Countryside) just rose throughout the whole game,"
Bucs
coach Dave Zimmerman said. "We have great team chemistry
right now."
Bloomingdale avenged a blowout loss to Melbourne Central
Catholic in last season's
tournament with a 1-0 win on penalty kicks. The Bulls later
topped Sarasota Cardinal
Mooney 5-2, setting up a showdown at 11 a.m. Monday with
Lake Mary.
Gaither (6-5) dominated from start to
finish against CCC (5-1-2) but could not find the
back of the net. After a scoreless tie, the Cowboys won the
shootout 3-2.
However, it was the day's earlier results
that knocked Gaither out of the tournament.
While CCC beat
Oviedo 2-1, the Cowboys fell 2- 0 against Tallahassee Leon.
A
regulation win is worth 3 points, a shootout win worth 2
and a shootout loss worth 1.
With Leon winning 3-1 over
Oviedo in the late game, Gaither was eliminated from the
championship bracket and needs a win Monday against Oviedo
combined with a CCC
loss to play for fifth.
"This was definitely one of the better games we've played
all season, but we're still
looking for an offensive leader to step up and put it in for
us," Gaither coach Eric Sims
said.
If CCC wins outright against Leon at noon
Monday, the Marauders advance to the
championship bracket.
If they tie, they play for fifth. A loss combined with a
Gaither
win sends CCC home.
- Times corrospondent Jeremy Rasmussen
contributed to this report. |
