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Allen's got goals

By JIM REDMILE, Hernando Today correspondent

Published: January 15, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Talk about icing on the cake. The Nature Coast girls' varsity soccer team hosted Central Thursday night, which also happened to be Senior Night. And not only did the 12-6-4 Sharks win 2-0, their only senior Brittany Allen, a 16-year-old with a 4.2 GPA, scored the second of two goals on the evening.

"I was running up, and Taylor (Agricola) crossed it, and I slid it in," said Allen of her goal in the 36th minute of the first half.

In the short term, Allen is focused on the team and the rest of the season.

"We're just playing hard. Our next game is districts Wednesday night against Gulf)," said Allen. "If we win districts, we go on. We've gotten progressively better all season long. Coach has been working us really hard."

Her long-term goal is higher education.

"Either Georgia or Columbia College in South Carolina," she said humbly.

NCT Head Coach Phil Bennett was pleased with the outcome.

"They wanted to do that for Brittany, for the senior," he said. "That's what their whole thing was. They did it for her, they played and they scrapped. You couldn't ask for any better senior night than that."

Bennett went on to tell about the season they had, and what lies ahead.

"We're going into the district seeded sixth (4A-8), which is a little surprising, but for us, that's actually good because it puts us in a lower half in the seeding, and we avoid Hudson. It gives us a tough first game against Gulf, but if we beat Gulf, then I think we can beat Springstead," he said.

On the other side of the ball is Central head coach Amy Ellis, and her 5-8-4 Bears (district 5A-7). "They just didn't play well. Thank goodness we play tomorrow, or it would be a really bad end to the season.

"We came off a win (1-0) at Springstead and you think it's going to carry the motivation," she said. "They have an issue with Nature Coast. There are a lot of rivalries with girls that play and my girls look like they're freaking out out there."

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