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HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SOCCER
For one half, you could sense the frustration growing on the St. Cloud bench.
The Lady Bulldog soccer team had absolutely dominated possession and had fired shot after shot at Celebration goalie Harley Gamble, only to look up at the board to find themselves down 1-0 at the midway point of the Orange Belt Conference Tournament’s semifinal game.
Gamble had made several terrific saves in the opening 45 minute salvo, and when the ball did manage to get by her, a teammate was there to sweep it off the line.
On one of the fewer counter attacks of the half, a Celebration player was fouled just outside the 18-yard box. Bianca Pedro took the free kick, blasting it toward the goal. The ball remained loose for a split second and found itself at the foot of Bruna Mattozihno, who fired it home for a 1-0 Storm lead.
“There was a little frustration, but we told them to just keep it together. I told them they had to fight to get into the OBC championship game and the way we were playing it wasn’t going to happen,” St. Cloud head coach Shawn Beck said. “We made some lineup adjustments at the half and came out and dominated.”
Gamble and her teammates were up to the challenge in the opening minutes of the second half. Gamble stopped at hard shot from point blank range from St. Cloud’s Zabrina Hellmer at the 36:59 mark, and when a loose ball got past Gamble and was trickling toward the Celebration goal a few minutes later, Bella Foster would sweep it off the line. Foster would make a similar play minutes later to preserve the 1-0 Storm lead.
But St. Cloud’s relentless attack would finally pay off. The Storm turned the ball over directly in front of the net and Hellmer would take it at her feet, dribble between two defenders and beat Gamble to top right corner to make it 1-1 at the 30:37 mark.
A Hellmer shot in the next minute was knocked out by Gamble, but the rebound went directly to Rebecca Labrador, who buried it in the left corner for a 2-1 advantage. With the relentless attack continuing, the Storm were called for a handball inside the box. Midfielder Hannah Archibald would blast the penalty kick into the net for a 3-1 lead.
From there, Rylie Pyewell and Natalia Martinez would add late goals for a 5-1 final.
In the other semifinal, Harmony (10-4-1) scored quickly and often against Tohopekaliga in an 8-0 victory.
The Lady Longhorns raced out to a 6-0 lead at the half and then scored two more early in the second half to end the game on the mercy rule.
The Lady Longhorns received two goals each from Alyha Velazquez, Reinna Scott and Jenna Butcofski in the victory, with Butcofski adding two assists.
“I thought we played a complete game for the first time since early on in the season. We came out focused and played good team soccer. We were able to possess the ball out of the back and through the middle. We had an array of confident finishes in front of the goal. Hopefully, this play can carry over thru the rest of the season,” Harmony Head Coach Scott Marlega said after the win.
With the victories, Harmony, which came in as the No. 2 tournament seed, played top seeded St. Cloud at Celebration High School for the Championship on Thursday night. Tohopekaliga faced Celebration in the third place game.
It was a championship game that Beck was anticipating before the tournament began, and it will also be a rematch of a regular season game on Dec. 13 game at Harmony that the Lady Bulldogs won, 2-1.
“We’re excited about the matchup. They are a solid side and we are fighting some injuries right now. We’ll have to see what we can come up with,” Beck said.
Marlega added, “We are looking forward to a rematch with St. Cloud. We know they are a good team with a good coach. They have talented players in every line. It’s a rivalry game and in rivalry games you can throw stats and skill out the window. It’s about who wants it more and who plays harder.”
