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Hernando Today

Springstead's losing skein reaches four in a row

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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: January 2, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - There are times in every prep sport that participates in a holiday tournament when a coach will say that for some reason, his or her team just did not come to play on a certain day.
That was the problem that Springstead's boys' soccer Head Coach Sal Calabrese said his team went through Thursday afternoon.
The main concern? A 4-2 shootout loss to below .500 Zephyrhills in the second-round of the Ridgewood High Winter Soccer Classic at Booster Stadium.
The Eagles, who lost 5-0 to technically sound Tampa-Alonso in the opening round of the 8-team tournament on Wednesday, gave up an early goal to the Bulldogs before getting a tying goal with two minutes left in the game to force overtime.
But after playing two 10-minute periods, the 7-7-5 Eagles lost in the shootout 3-1 and in the process, made their coach question their effort Thursday.
"What do you want me to say? Penalties are part of the game," said Calabrese Thursday. "I thought the group we had out there in the second half played well and that was without any seniors."
The two teams, who are both in Class 4A, District 8, have already played a game this year that Springstead won 2-1 on a late Eagles' penalty kick, had the Bulldogs jump to an early lead Thursday.
On the board
Zephyrhills scored the game's first goal Thursday when six minutes into the game Mark Avadikian sent a ball past the Eagles defense that A. J. Wright ran down and put past Springstead goalie Joey LaSala for a goal.
And for awhile, that was the only goal of the game.
Z'hills had a number of chances in both the first and second half but for the second straight day, freshman goal keeper LaSala made some difficult saves to keep Spingstead in the match.
Then in the second half, with Calabrese changing his lineup around, the Eagles looked like the game would end 1-0 before Nathan Leathers scored a goal with under two minutes remaining in regulation.
Michael Schaufelberger started the play from the right wing by sending a cross into the box that Leathers chested down. His shot was stopped by Bulldog goalie Rafael Rodriguez, but Leathers pounced on the rebound and scored, 1-1.
After two, 10-minute overtime periods where neither team scored, the match was decided by penalty kicks.
Each team gets five tries.
Oddly, Zephyrhills' Kris Fergoso and Springstead's Leathers both had their initial shots saved by the goalies.
William Fletcher of Z'hills then beat LaSala on the high side for a 1-0 lead before Steve Sullivan had his shot stopped by Rodriguez.
Mike Schmidt of the Bulldogs had his shot saved by LaSala and then Teddy Ferguson tied it up for the Eagles when he made his penalty kick.
But the Bulldogs won the match when Bryon Ho and Wright both converted their PKs while Aron Walasek had his shot stoned by Rodriguez to seal the Zephyrhills win.
"We've got seniors who didn't want to step up today," said Calabrese. "Let's just end it there."
With the setback, Springstead dipped to .500, 7-7-5 overall, and was scheduled to face Citrus. The Hurricanes had blanked the Eagles on Nov. 26 in Spring Hill, 3-0.

Zephyrhills 4, Springstead 2 (Shootout)
ZH 1 0 0 0 3 -- 4
SPG 0 1 0 0 1 -- 2
Goals - Wright 2, Fletcher, Ho (ZH); Leathers, Ferguson (SPG).
Assists - Ma. Avadikien (ZH); Schaufelberger (SPG).
Shots on goal - ZHS 24; SPG 18.
Saves - ZHS (Rodriguez 17); SPG (LaSala 12).
Yellow cards - Fregoso, Schmidt, Fletcher (ZHS); Schaufelberger, D'Acunto (SPG).
Blue cards - none.
Red cards - none.
Records - Zephyrhills (4-8-5), Springstead (7-7-5).

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