Miners, Vikings Win; Panthers Move on

Tue. January 22, 2013 at 11:00 p.m. | By Mike Cobb

By MIKE COBB

LEDGER CORRESPONDENT

FORT MEADE | For the second year in a row, Fort Meade and Lakeland Christian will meet for the Class 1A, District 6 boys soccer championship.

Both advanced with shutout wins Tuesday night at Frank S. Battle Field. Fort Meade (9-11-3) scored four second-half goals on its way to a 5-0 win over Santa Fe Catholic while Lakeland Christian (10-9-1) pulled away in the second half for a 7-0 win over All Saints' Academy.

Fort Meade and LCS will meet at 7 p.m., Friday for the championship, and both schools will move on to next week's Class 1A regional playoffs. Last year, the two met in the district championship game with Fort Meade winning, 3-2.

"It's almost the exact same scenario as last year," LCS coach Grandy Streets said. "We beat them twice this year, 2-0 and 2-0. Last year, it was the exact same thing, we beat them 2-0 and 2-0, and they beat us in the district final. It's going to be a great game (Friday night)."

In Fort Meade's win Tuesday night, Jack Cortez broke a scoreless battle with a goal with 3:00 left in the first half, then the Miners added a pair of goals by Diego Maldanado and Erik Villalon six minutes apart early in the second half to take a 3-0 lead.

"It always helps to get a lead," said Fort Meade coach Lynn Haase. "I know both teams were very nervous. That first goal was a big goal. You play loser after that."

Jose Macedo and Jamie Delgado added late goals for Fort Meade. Luis Serrano had two assists while Manuel Hernandez and Dru Lott each had one.

"We didn't go with our normal 4-4-2," Haase said. "We decided to go a little more offensive, and we got a lot more people involved."

Goalkeeper Abel Armijo had three saves in recording the shutout. Santa Fe closes out its season 11-8-1.

In LCS' win, it was also a scoreless battle until Cort Schofield's goal with 14:49 left gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Price Cassidy added another goal with 3:08 to play in the half giving the Vikings a 2-0 halftime lead.

"Defensively, we've been very sound this year, and I think we were patient (on offense)," Streets said. "All Saints defended us very well, but then Cort (Schofield) got a nice goal and that kind of opened it up."

In the second half, Reid Reynolds had two goals while Andrew Elliott, Logan Pierce and Taylor Morton each had one. Reynolds, Schoefield, Pierce, Grady Sharpe, Jose Blanco and Alex Sessums each had an assist. Goalkeeper Blake Crosby had four saves in recording the shutout.

Along with balance on offense by the Vikings, Streets was happy with the way his defense played.

"We have a very good defensive core. We're very solid defensively," Streets said. "They've been the best in the county in my opinion, they're very good defenders, great attitudes and have a lot of speed."

All Saints closes out its season 3-12-1.

Class 2A, District 10

Mulberry 3, Lake Placid 2

Orlando Alvarez scored a his first goal of the season from 20 yards out with six minutes left in the game to lead Mulberry in its first round game over Lake Placid at Hardee.

Raunel Toribio and Oscar Rosales each netted a goal for the Panthers (11-8-4) who play Frostproof (17-0-3) Thursday at 6 p.m.

Yoyi Gomez and Adrian Barragan each scored a goal for Lake Placid.

DeSoto defeated Avon Park 5-0 and will play Hardee at 8 on Thursday night.