Lady Horns, Kowgirls in regionals

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Lady Horns, Kowgirls in regionals

Sports

Friday, 22 January 2010 08:33

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
Harmony and Osceola have extended their girls soccer seasons into the regional playoffs for the first time ever with wins this week in the district tournament semifinals.
The Longhorns took down rival St. Cloud, 3-1, in Wednesday’s 4A District 6 semifinal at Celebration, while the Kowgirls outlasted host Lake Wales, 2-1, in overtime of the 5A-5 tournament.
Harmony (12-2-2) played Eustis (20-3-1) for the 4A-6 title Friday, and Osceola (14-6-2) took on Winter Haven. The winners host a Region 2 quarterfinal match Thursday.
Harmony led 1-0 16 minutes in on Anna Blanchard’s free kick from the edge of the goalie box, but St. Cloud tied it eight minutes later when Kayla Martinez’s blast off a one-on-one run whizzed past the fingertips of Longhorns goalie Kaylee Horn. The
Bullodgs were just the third opponent to score on the Longhorns this season.
But, Harmony regained the lead in the waning seconds of the half when Chelsea Connor headed home Peyton Leffew’s crossing pass through traffic.
That 2-1 lead held until late in the second half. It proved tenuous when Horn stopped Martinez on another breakaway with nine minutes left, but Kendall Pollock would provide a big insurance goal three minutes later, stuffing home a deflected shot.
“We switched up the formation to fit this game, so I knew we needed that last goal,” HHS Coach Stephanie Jones said. “We got the job done.”
The Longhorns, who were 0-5 all-time in the tournament prior to Monday’s 11-0 quarterfinal win over Oak Ridge, were able to focus for the playoff-clinching win as best they could, Jones said.
“It was a nice win in a game that had such monumental meaning, although I’m not sure some of them grasped it totally,” she said. “We’re in the midst of exams. At practice (Tuesday) I had girls quizzing each other on their chemistry. How can I argue with that?”
Junior Emily Johnson, a cog in the Longhorns defense that held the Bulldogs (10-5) to five shots, said that playing their biggest rival in the tournament was a challenge.
“Playing St. Cloud is hard for us in this situation, they’re our rivals and a lot of us are friends,” she said. “But, we’ve never gone to the playoffs before, and we wanted that. And, we have to thank Kaylee (Horn, the goalie) for getting us there.”
Blanchard, the sweeper, was among a group of players on the way out of Celebration soon after the game to study for mid-terms.
”We’re trying to focus, and get all the hard distractions out of the way,” she said.
In the later semifinal, Eustis topped Celebration, 7-0. The Storm beat Tavares, 3-0, in Monday’s quarterfinal. St. Cloud topped Poinciana, 6-2, in its Monday quarterfinal.
At Lake Wales, Osceola trailed 1-0 into the second half, and it didn’t get the tying goal until sophomore Leah Mullins tallied her 52nd goal of the year with 11 minutes left.
In the overtime, Kiersten Martinez ignited a Kowgirl celebration with the winning goal off a free kick with three minutes remaining.
“I am very pleased on how well the girls continued to work hard and as a team,” OHS Coach Mark Ausherman said.
Osceola earned their spot in the semifinal with an 8-1 win over Liberty on Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, Gateway fell to Port St. Lucie Centennial, 6-0 in the 6A District 6 tournament.