"Perfect ball" isn't enough

BROOKSVILLE - A "beautiful goal," that's how Nature Coast Head Coach Patrick O'Grady described the Sharks' only goal by senior Jean-Pierre Salazar in a losing effort Wednesday night against 4A-8 rival Sunlake, 3-1.

Salazar's sixth goal of the year came in the 59th minute of play making it 2-1, giving the Sharks (2-11-2) a much-needed boost. Brandon Misener took a throw in from the left side near the Seahawk 15-yard line. The ball was deflected into the air, headed by a defenseman, and landed at Salazar's right foot. "It was a perfect ball to me. I saw the ball in the air; there was a big scramble; just perfect," he said, describing the play.

"We started off strong in the first half; good teamwork. We had a disappointing game this past Friday, but the boys seemed to pull together," O'Grady explained of the loss suffered to archrival Central, 4-1.

Sunlake (5-6-4) found the back of the net first in the 29th minute of play for the only goal of the half, when Jordan Landry received a pass from David Danahy, and split the Shark defense.

Then, picking up where they left off, 11 minutes into the second half, the same Sunlake tandem struck again. But this time, Landry hit the post, got his own rebound and followed it in for the score to make it 2-0.

In the 70th minute, Sunlake scored its final goal. Seahawk mid-fielder Carlos Herrera, who had been passing balls up and over the Shark defense looking for a breakaway, finally found Juan Lopez, making the final score 3-1.

"Breakaways, they're really good at the breakaways," O'Grady said of Sunlake. "He's really trained them well on that. That's obviously what got them two goals late in the game. We just have to tighten up on our passes, offensively."