Harmony, Celebration girls fall in regional quarterfinals
Tuesday was a mixed bag for the four Osceola County soccer programs that qualified for the regional playoffs.
The two boys teams won, and the two girls teams lost.
First, the bad news. In a game where neither teams could generate many scoring opportunities, Treasure Coast took advantage of the best one – converting a penalty kick at the 28 minute mark of the first half and held on for a 1-0 win over Harmony in a Region 7A-2 game.
In what turned out to be the game-winning play, Titans forward Deanna Romero was pulled down inside the box on a late tackle attempt. Victoria Valles caught Harmony goalie Karla Marrero leaning to her right on the approach and calmly chipped the ball in the upper left hand corner of the net.
Although Treasure Coast dominated possession in the first 30 minutes and got off seven shots – including three on net – none of those shots were solidly struck and Marrero made easy saves each time.
Harmony (13-4) would finally come alive in the final 10 minutes of the period. They got their first shot on goal with three minutes to go in the half and then put two hard shots on net in the final minute. But Titans goalie Kayleigh Marreal was up to the challenge, stopping all three shots to preserve the 1-0 advantage.
In the final 20 minutes, Harmony was able to get a through ball past defenders in the box, but each time Marreel would beat the Harmony attacker to the ball.
“(Marreel) was a difference maker,” Harmony Coach Scott Marlega said. “She was very aggressive and decisive when she came off the line and snuffed out some decent opportunities for us.”
With six minutes remaining, Harmony had another chance to tie the score as Jadyn Frost made a deft move past a defender in the right side of the box, but could not get a shot on goal from the severe angle. A few minutes later, Marreel made her fifth save of the game--stopping a hard Harmony shot from distance to preserve the win.
“I thought we controlled the pace in the second half and were the more dangerous team,” Marlega noted. “But we couldn’t quite get the right weight on a couple of passes to get off a good shot and when we did she (Marreel) was up to the challenge.
“Coming into the season we had a young team after graduating nine seniors, including four that went on to play college soccer,” Marlega said. “We had five freshmen on the varsity, four of which played significant minutes for us. There’s no question this team exceeded any expectations I had for them.”
Celebration’s girls earned a Class 7A at-large berth, but lost to regional No. 1 seed Boca Raton, 6-0.
Now, the good news. Gateway (Region 5A-2) and Celebration (Region 7A-2) posted home wins, including the Panthers (14-4-1), whose 4-0 win over Wesley Chapel Cypress Creek (10-6) was their first regional win since 2011, when Coach Sager Patel roamed the field himself for Gateway.
“We were prepared with a game plan, and executed it,” he said. “We thought we’d be able to take advantage of their spacing in the middle of the field.”
The Panthers were able to settle in early, taking the lead in the 7th minute when Cypress Creek wasn’t able to clear away Nikolas Restrepo’s corner kick, and Luis Moreno hammered home a shot through traffic. Thirteen minutes later, Jospeh Ramirez Parra and Moreno’s give-and-go work got the ball into the box, where leading scorer Jose Calderon took a pass and made it 2-0 from close range.
It remained that way into the half, and while the Coyotes upped the intensity early in the second half, getting three shots on frame, Gateway matched the intensity and continued to hold the upper hand in the midfield. Calderon extended the lead in the 70th minute with fine work in the middle of the field, getting into enough space to fire a blast into the upper part of the net. Zion Correa added the final goal two minutes later.
Senior Emmanuel Valderamma, part of the midfield effort that dictated play most of the night, said the team’s play showed some hard feelings from the district title game, a 2-1 loss to Horizon where the Panthers let the lead slip away.
“We didn’t meet our goals, but we felt like we could still make history with a win,” he said. “We also still had the chance to defend our home turf.”
The Panthers will play at regional No. 1 seed Tampa Jesuit in Friday regional semifinal.
Celebration also advances to the semifinals in Class 7A, Region 3 with an impressive 2-0 win over Palm Beach Central.
The Storm (10-2-2) controlled action in the first half of its game, playing with a lot of intensity while making some great runs and passes. They finally got on the board when Carlos Perez put Celebration on top with a goal from 25 yards out.
Palm Beach would control the midfield in the second half, until the Storm caught PBC on a fast break and Santiago Garcia put it in the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. “Overall, I thought we played a great game,” assistant coach Chad Boudreaux said. “To meet our ultimate goals, we still need to correct some things, but it was a solid win for us.”
Celebration will host regional No. 6 Olympic Heights in Friday’s semifinal at 7 p.m.
