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Storm soccer back in regionals PDF Print E-mail
Sports
Friday, 29 January 2010 08:36
By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
The story is the same as last year: Celebration’s boys are headed to next week’s regional soccer playoffs, and they’ll make the trip alone.
The Storm, thanks to a 3-0 win over Tavares in the 4A District 6 tournament semifinals on Wednesday, getting goals from Dominic Barros, Christian Ardila and Jehov Pardo de Figueroa, as well as some flashy stops by goalkeeper John Birchall.
Celebration (14-4), which hosted the tournament, played Oak Ridge on Friday night to try to defend the 4A-6 title. With a win, the Storm would also host a Region 2 quarterfinal on Thursday at 7 p.m. against the runner-up of 4A-5.
Wednesday’s score in a win-or-go-home game looked like Storm dominance to the untrained eye. Don’t count CHS Coach Mike Meechin in that camp.
“We had a lot of bad touches and didn’t pass well, but, thankfully, we finished shots when they counted,” he said. “Throughout this program, there’s a faith that guys will perform and execute.”
The Storm took the lead early, scoring in the sixth minute, when Barros’ shot from an odd angle bounced off the crossbar and into the net. Birchall kept Celebration ahead nine minutes later when he stopped a Tavares penalty kick.
It was still 1-0 13 minutes into the second half when Birchall again stepped up, diving to stop a point-blank shot.
“John’s legit, he’s as good as our guy Alejandro (Saldana, who brought 11 straight shutouts) last year,” Meechin said. “The early score was huge to get a lead and dictate the pace early, but if John doesn’t stop that PK, who knows how this game turns out.”
Ardila and Figueroa would add insurance goals six minutes apart.
Oak Ridge reached the district final by defeating Poinciana, 3-1, Monday, and St. Cloud, 3-0, Wednesday.
The Bulldogs knocked off Eustis, 5-4 in penalty kicks in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round after playing 100 minutes of scoreless soccer to tally their first win of the season and reach the semifinals.
Thanks to a penalty kick in overtime, Tavares reached the semifinals with a 4-3 win over Harmony in Monday’s quarterfinal.
Osceola’s and Gateway’s seasons ended in the semifinals of their tournaments. The Kowboys (9-5-7), who downed Liberty in Monday’s opening round of the 5A District 5 tournament at Davenport Ridge, fell behind Haines City 2-0 in the first half on Wednesday. They rallied in the second half and cut the margin on O’Neill Chambers’ goal with 13:42 remaining, but ultimately lost 2-1.
Gateway beat Palm Bay Bayside in the opening round of the 6A-6 tournament at Port St. Lucie Centennial on Monday, but could not continue the magic on Wednesday and lost to the host Eagles, 3-1. The Panthers (9-5-4) fell behind 3-0 in the first half.
 

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