Lady Longhorns claim 5th title in 7 years; Tigers scratch and claw for the school's first
The Harmony Longhorns successfully defended their OBC girls soccer championship Friday with a 3-2 win over Celebration. (Photo/Mario Casamalhuapa)
While the Orange Belt Conference girls soccer championship trophy will stay where it was last week, the boys trinket will go where it's never been after a spirited "kick at the can" Friday.
On a crisp night at Osceola High, Tohopekaliga, the fourth seed in the eight-team boys tournament, culminated "just a crazy week" with a 2-0 victory over No. 2 Gateway. That came two days after an improbable 1-0 win over No. 1 ranked Celebration.
Earlier on Friday, the top-seeded Harmony Lady Longhorns took an early lead then had to withstand a furious second-half rally from No. 2 Celebration to claim an entertaining 3-2 win.
Jada Bloodworth scored twice in the first 16 minutes to give the Longhorns (9-2) a lead they’d never lose, although the Storm (8-3) made it tense thanks to a pair of second-half goals from Leandra Oliveira.
“I’m glad that game wasn’t a few minutes longer. Becca (Camis, CHS head coach) always has her team ready to play well, and we had a really fun title game,” HHS Coach Scott Marlega said. "It's becoming a great rivalry.”
Bloodworth scored in the 9th minute after splitting two defenders and getting the Storm goalkeeper out of her net. Seven minutes later she redirected Sarah Harris' crossing pass from the right wing.
But Celebration came out of halftime motivated and intense. The Storm nearly scored off a corner kick that the Longhorn defense cleared off the line, and broke through nine minutes later when Oliveira buried a free kick from just outside the penalty area into the bottom right corner in the 57th minute.
Harmony restored the breathing room four minutes later when Isabell Moscoso collected a pass from Bloodworth and scored for a 3-1 lead. Undaunted, Oliveira headed in a cross to make it 3-2 with 14 minutes left, and Celebration pressured the ball and Harmony's defense for all of the remaining time — but it was a challenge the Longhorns were up for.
Marlega said he preached to his team getting off to a fast start.
"We haven't done a lot of that this season, but Jada's two goals were huge to build momentum off of," he said.
Camis said getting behind dictated the match.
"Goals change games," she said. "But the girls never gave up and gave us a chance to win at the end."
Harmony reached Friday's championship game with wins over Liberty (12-0) and Tohopekaliga (4-1) Monday and Wednesday. Celebration defeated Poinciana (8-0) and St. Cloud (1-1, 4-3 in penalty kicks) in the first two rounds.
In the boys game, Antonio Quintana put the Tigers (6-2-1) ahead in the fourth minute, punctuating a great individual effort with a strike from the top of the box. It kickstarted a fast, physical game that saw the teams create a number of scoring chances. Tigers sweeper Esteban Garcia had to sweep one off the line six minutes later, and then Gateway’s Augusto Bustamonte would have tied it if not for a diving save by Carlos Semprum.
Two minutes later, Tomas Esteva widened the lead, heading home Santiago Smith’s free kick in the 34th minute. The second half featured more back-and-forth fury, with Tohopekaliga playing enough defense to post a clean sheet and win the school's first OBC boys soccer title.
Semprum made seven saves, most of the high-profile variety.
Quintana said the team was missing starters Monday in its penalty shooting win over Harmony.
"That made us realize that we could win this thing," he said. "We got our full lineup back (Wednesday) and played Celebration, a team that's gotten into our heads every other time we played them. Instead, we played with our own confidence. Tonight, we just kept playing amazing. It's been just a crazy week, and now we have confidence for the rest of the season, for sure, for districts (after the winter break). This isn't all we're gonna do this season."
Gateway, who beat Poinciana (2-1) and St. Cloud (6-2) to get to the finals, fell to 6-1-3.
"It was a slow start for sure, that's something I haven't seen us do this year," GHS Coach Sagar Patel said. "Credit to Toho, they played a fast pace and that favored them. I told our kids that this could build character, and if we're going to go to the playoffs and accomplish our goals, then we will learn from this.
In Thursday's placement games:
Boys
3rd place: Celebration 4, St. Cloud 3
5th place: Harmony 2, Poinciana 0
7th place: Osceola 2, Liberty 0
Girls
3rd place: St. Cloud 3, Tohopekaliga 2
5th place: Gateway 6, Poinciana 3
7th place: Osceola 8, Liberty 0
