Celebration survives for 2-1 soccer win

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Celebration survives for 2-1 soccer win

Sports

Saturday, 06 February 2010 00:46

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
The scoreboard showed Celebration’s 2-1 win at the end of Thursday’s Region 2 boys soccer quarterfinal.
But Gainesville Eastside didn’t lose — they were voted off the island.
The Storm (16-4) took a 2-0 lead into the late stages of the game only to watch the Rams (13-4-2) climb back into the match and nearly tie it up thanks to a late flurry of shots.
Nonetheless, Celebration survived and will play Ocala Vanguard, a 5-1 winner over Oak Ridge Thursday, in Tuesday’s semifinal.
“Why can’t we just make it easy on ourselves and make the 2-0 lead stand up?” CHS Coach Mike Meechin said after the game, shaking his head in mock frustration. “I’m proud of these guys, but ... man.”
Celebration, playing a possession game that forced the Rams to chase the ball around the field, struck in the 10th minute. Jeremy Hong found Christian Ardila open in front of the goal, and he pounded it home to give the Storm the lead.
Midfielder Santiago Echeverri’s pumped-up crossing pass from near the sideline 16 minutes later found the far post and deflected into the net to extended the lead.
With a win Tuesday, Celebration would host the regional final on Friday.
The score stayed 2-0 until after the midpoint of the second half, when the Rams ratcheted up the offensive pressure. The Storm failed to clear a pass near its net with 16 minutes left and James Davis scored from the doorstep to make it a one-goal game. Eastside continued to pepper passes and shots at the net, but freshman goalie John Birchall was able to turn enough of them away to secure the victory.
Meechin said his team was the one on its heels at the end.
“We looked like two different teams out there,” he said. “They got us backed down at the end and did to us what we’ve done to teams all year.”