HHS shows progress in closer loss

BROOKSVILLE - The scoreboard at Tom Fisher Memorial Stadium still had Hernando High on the losing side Wednesday night.

However, that the opposing team, Zephyrhills High, only managed a 3-0 victory over the host Lady Leopards actually represented a marked improvement.

Hernando (2-15-1 overall, 1-13-1 Class 4A, District 8) fell to the Lady Bulldogs 7-0 on Nov. 26.

"They really battled well, worked well," Hernando Head Coach Neil Riddle said. "We improved from 7-0 to 3-0.

"Tonight apart from the free kick which I think is unstoppable, we had two mistakes in the back, a couple of lapses, we could have had it 1-0.

"They're really, really starting to work for each other now. A month ago that team would have beaten us 8-0 again."

This time the Lady Leopards held Zephyrhills to three first-half goals, as Hernando keeper Megan Platt recorded seven second-half saves to keep the Lady Bulldogs from scoring after halftime.

Brittney Hough and Brandi Mira each tallied goals for Zephyrhills, assisted by Chelsea Smith and Erica Collura respectively.

Lauren McLeod added a goal on a free kick to account for the first-half onslaught.

"It's hard to play against this style," Zephyrhills Head Coach Danielle Castro said. "But we played all right."

Hernando owns a win and a tie versus first-year Sunlake High and also had a 5-0 non-district triumph over South Sumter High.

Other than those matches, it has been a struggle for Riddle to turn around a program that has gone through a bevy of coaches in recent years and found little success.

The coach looked at this performance as a step in the right direction, even if the outcome remained the same.

"We're going to work at trying to improve defensively and picking up points where we can and go from there," Riddle said. "We're trying to build from the ground up. We're concentrating on people working hard defensively."