A moral victory

BROOKSVILLE - If you had been there, you wouldn't have believed that the team on the field was 3-15. Every girl, every pass, every ball played was cheered like a European football team.

The Hernando girls' varsity soccer squad was that team. They opened their season against in-county rival Central and lost 8-0. But by season's end, it forced the Bears to a scoreless draw.

"This is a huge moral victory," said first-year Leopard Head Coach Neil Riddle, whose team finishes the regular season 3-15-1. "They beat us 8-nil at the start of the season; scored eight goals in 14 minutes. These girls wanted to play tonight.

"They (Central) thought they were going to come in and give us a whipping," mused coach Riddle. "All year I've been looking for my team to play like that, all year, and they picked this night to do it. They battled hard. We're not the best technically, we're not that good, but when you start with heart like that we got somewhere to go from.

"We'd make it difficult for any team when you play like that," Riddle continued. "I'm proud of them. It's the first time I can say that all year. They know they've done it. That's the first time they've really accomplished something. They battled hard and they earned it. They know now what it feels like; it's a good night."

For Central (5-8-5), it feels like dejÀ vu all over again.

After falling to Nature Coast 2-0 the previous night, Head Coach Amy Ellis thought the Bears would turn things around against struggling Hernando.

"They just didn't play well," Ellis said last night.

Tonight it was more of the same.

"We didn't show up to play tonight; we weren't even there," commented Ellis. "We just weren't there to play.

"I think this is a total game of, 'Hernando came out to play, and they wanted it.' My girls thought they had this game; it was theirs to win," said Ellis. "We had several opportunities, but they put themselves in a mental hole. They've got to work on the little things. They know what they did wrong, they told themselves during halftime. They are sick of me repeating myself."