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District boy soccer: Northeast dispatches Seminole

 
Published Jan. 22, 2015

SEMINOLE— Seminole brought the energy looking for an upset, but failed to maintain the intensity in overtime.

The Warhawks stood toe-to-toe with second seed Northeast in the Class 4A-10 semifinals Wednesday night, holding the lead well into the second half despite playing the day before. Slowly but surely the Vikings eluded Seminole's physical defense, finally wrapping up the comeback on junior Njegos Drazic's second goal four minutes into the second overtime for a 2-1 victory.

"(Seminole) beat us last year in the district semis, and we had a big hole in our hearts from that that we were looking to fill," Johnny McGary said.

The senior found the way in the extra session as his long throw-in got to Drazic at the near post. Or did it?

"I went to the front post — I was about 3 yards out — went hard and flicked it (with my head)," Drazic said.

The ball looked to be untouched, however, rolling to the right and into the net. After a brief deliberation, the referees ruled Drazic touched the ball for the winner.

Another beautiful pass, this time from Aleksander Sljivic, netted Drazic a half-volley that keeper Tom Palmer had no chance at midway through the second half.

Powered by Thomas Whiting's intimidating back-line presence, Seminole (9-9) made Gideon Adams' first-half goal stand up. With 10 minutes left, Paul Gyorkos highlighted a well-played game with a perfect free kick that Adams headed in from close range.

In the nightcap, Osceola countered Palmetto's ball-handling prowess with strong gang defense, but the top-seeded Tigers' speed was just enough in a 2-1 victory.

A first-half laser shot by Candido Calvillo followed by a deft second-half flick from Raul Loera gave Palmetto a cushion that the Warriors couldn't overcome.

John Hockin's header off Nash Luff's free kick sliced the deficit in half two minutes after Loera's marker, and strong goaltending from Louis Tavares preserved the margin, but Osceola could get no closer.

Palm Harbor U. pulls out win on PKs

EAST LAKE — Palm Harbor University has only one loss this season — to the team that almost sent them home early in the 5A-7 semifinals Wednesday. But after two quick goals by Steinbrenner in a dominant first half, the Hurricanes turned on the switch and handed the Warriors a 3-2 loss in penalty kicks.

Twenty-five minutes in, defender Jason Fishman headed the ball to the top right corner of the net. Steinbrenner (12-8-1) continued to pile on thanks to a blooper goal 45 yards out sent in by Matthew Gordon over tripped-up junior goalie Hayden Groom with three minutes left in the half.

"I felt that both goals were my fault and I owed it to (the PHU offense) to carry us through penalty kicks," Groom said. "They were out biggest rival this year, and we had a lot of pressure."

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But the 'Canes (14-1-2) kept their cool and managed to tie it up thanks to goals by midfielder Channing Pezet with 26 minutes left in regulation and another by forward Matthew Corbett with two minutes left. Both were headers and the game stopped shortly after to advance into a team's worst nightmare, golden goal.

But two 10-minute overtimes still did not reveal a winner and it took seven penalty kicks for a champion to rise. Steinbrenner, despite two opportunities to win in PKs, could not convert. Groom blocked three shots and a separate one went over the net.

In the second semifinal, Alonso struck first, then it was all East Lake in an 8-1 victory. The Eagles (11-3) started their ferocious 8-0 run thanks to consecutive goals by forward Pierre Goris, who struck with 19 and eight minutes left, respectively, in the first half. Then came two goals from Miguel Silva, consecutive assists from Dino Papadopoulus on goals and two scores from Edan Cohen.

Class 5A-8: Top-seeded St. Petersburg beat Pinellas Park 6-0 in its semifinal and faces Bradenton Manatee, a 1-0 winner over Sarasota Riverview.

Evan Abramson, Times correspondent