Games will be Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday's championship at Osceola
Celebration will be the top seed, but defending champion Harmony should not be counted out as the 2024-25 Orange Belt Conference girls soccer championship will contested next week.
The Storm will host top bracket games; and second-seeded Harmony will host lower bracket games during Monday’s quarterfinals and Tuesday’s semifinals. The winners of those two brackets will meet Friday at neutral site Osceola at 7 p.m. for the championship.
The Storm will take a 5-3-1 record into the tournament following a 2-1 loss Thursday against Victory Christian Academy. The Storm are the top seed based by virtue of being the county’s highest ranked state team as of Dec. 2. Celebration, led by sophomore Morenia Ferraris and senior captain Anna Balba, have outscored their opposition 38-7 this season, losing only to Flagler Palm Coast and state-power Melbourne (9-0) before Thursday’s setback.
Celebration won its first OBC title two years ago and Coach Becca Hodder’s team has gone 31-10-2 over the last two and one-half seasons. “We’re looking forward to a great and competitive tournament. We’ve been taking our games one at a time as we search for team and individual growth,” Hodder said. “Our keys will be trusting our abilities to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Harmony is the defending OBC champion, defeating Celebration (3-2) in last year’s championship game. The Horns have been the most dominant girls’ soccer team in the county for the better part of two decades. They have won three of the last four titles and 13 of the last 15. Although he graduated nine players, Coach Scott Marlega returns most of his offensive punch from last year’s 13-4 team, which advanced to regionals.
“I really like this team because we have a great mixture of solid veterans and talented young players. We started off with a tough November schedule but came out of it okay, we took a couple of tough losses last week against good opposition,” Marlega said. “We certainly are looking to bounce back in the OBC Tournament this week. When play three times in five days, staying focused will be the key to having a successful tournament. It is still relatively early in the season, so we are working hard to get better every day.”
Top returning scorers include Jada Bloodworth (9 goals in ’23-24), Jaydyn Frost (7 goals), Gabriella Guzman (12 goals), Ashylyn Florio (9 goals) and Machaela Looper (8 goals) . After and intense preseason competition that extended into the first couple of the weeks of the regular season, sophomore Faith Hizer has edged out Karla Marrero for the starting goaltending job.
With top seeds and home field advantage for the first two rounds, both Celebration and Harmony should be favored to advance to the championship game. Celebration opens with #8 seed Liberty (0-6-0) in a 7 p.m. Monday night game. The Chargers have been outscored 55-0 this season. #5 seed Osceola (3-2-1) will play #4 seed St. Cloud (2-4-0) in the other quarterfinal of the upper bracket. The two teams have faced one common opponent in Gateway, with each coming away with decisive shutout wins.
Osceola is led by the 1-2 scoring punch of Laura Males (11 goals this season) and Emerlyn Albarran (7 goals). Should the Kowboys advance to face Celebration, it could be tough sledding as the Storm already own a 9-1 win over Osceola this season.
The winners of those two games will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, for the right to go to the championship; with the losers playing in a 5 p.m. placement game.
In the lower bracket #3 Tohopekaliga (3-2-0) faces #6 Gateway (1-5-0) in a 5 p.m. quarterfinal; with Harmony (4-2-1) taking on #7 Poinciana (1-5-0) in the nightcap. Tohopekaliga, who already owns an 8-0 win over Gateway this season, is most likely to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals 7 p.m. game against the Longhorns/Eagles winner; with the losers playing in a 5 p.m. placement game.
Osceola High was selected as the neutral site for the championship round and will host both the OBC third place (5 p.m.) and championship game (7 p.m.) on Friday, Dec. 13. The 5th and 7th place games will be held on the home fields of the higher seeds at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12.
OBC Girls Soccer Championship Schedule
Monday, Dec. 9
At Celebration
Game 1: Liberty vs. Celebration, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Osceola vs. St. Cloud, 5p.m.
At Harmony
Game 2: Poinciana vs. Harmony, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Tohopekaliga vs. Gateway, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 10
At Celebration
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 7 p.m.
Game 7: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 5 p.m.
At Harmony
Game 6: Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 7 p.m.
Game 8: Game 2 Loser vs. Game 3 Loser, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 11
At Higher Seed
7th Place: Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser
5th Place: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner
Friday, Dec. 12
At Osceola High School
3rd Place Game: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 5 p.m.
Championship Game: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m.
