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Durant Girls Return To Playoffs

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

PLANT CITY - The Durant High Cougars are back in the girls soccer playoffs after a couple of rare years away.

Durant, which made the postseason during all but one of the school's first 11 years but missed out the last two, defeated Sarasota Riverview 4-0 in the Jan. 21 6A-8 semifinals.

Durant defeated East Bay 1-0 in the district finals on Friday, and both teams, by virtue of reaching the title game, are headed to the playoffs.

Regional play starts Thursday. The Cougars will be at home for the 7 p.m. kickoff and will face Alonso.

Freshman Gillian Sweet, one of several Durant underclassmen logging significant playing time this year, made a big impact at the district tourney. Sweet scored a goal in a 2-0 win over host Riverview on Jan. 20 and then broke through with two more goals in the semifinals.

"I hadn't been playing as well as I would like coming in," Sweet said. "I usually try to beat people with my speed, and I feel I was able to do that."

Sweet, who had four goals all regular season, nearly matched that total in the first district tourney contests.

Against Sarasota Riverview, the halftime score was 0-0, but Durant tallied twice in the opening five minutes of the second half to shock the Rams, who were the No. 2 seed.

Senior Caitlyn Dever, the anchor of the Cougars defense, moved up to score off a corner kick, making it 1-0 in the very first minute. Sweet scored to make it 2-0 and added a goal in the final 10 minutes. The Cougars tacked on a penalty kick score from Christy Faliero, who was rewarded for her two previous assists.

Leading scorer Marissa Skindell (eight goals in the regular season) had the other goal in the opener against Riverview. The victories on back-to-back nights were played in frigid conditions, with players bundling up in gloves and long sleeves.

"My hands are blue," goalie Meghan Fox said after the Sarasota Riverview game, where temperatures hung around 40 degrees.

Fox was appreciative for the defense's efforts, as was Cougar head coach Dick Sheffield.

"We rotate six girls back there - well, Dever never leaves leave the field - and we're confident in whoever's in the game," he said. The rest of the defensive rotation consists of seniors Mary Helen Moran and Amanda Bricker, sophomore outside backs Jessica Ross and Leslie Knopp and freshman Shaylyn Corgan.

Another freshman, Riley Andreu, was unable to play due to the flu but will return for regional action.

Sarasota Riverview had beaten Plant City in the first round, but the seventh-seeded Raiders certainly made it interesting in the first half, as it was 3-2 at the break. However the Rams broke loose for an 8-3 victory to end Plant City's season.

Janeth Antunez, Brittany Lyndsey and Janet Vasquez scored for the Raiders.

"I was very proud of our girls this season," said Raider head coach Wendy Young, whose team finished with a 4-9 record. "I was very impressed with their play against Sarasota Riverview. They worked hard all season, and I'm looking forward to seeing them improve in the seasons to come."

East Bay was the No. 1 seed although the Indians, Durant and Sarasota Riverview all finished district play with 5-1 records. East Bay won the tiebreaker due to superior goal differential in the games between the teams.

Sheffield credited a late-season string of games against tough opponents in readying his team for tourney play. "We got lucky," he said in reference to how four tough teams lined up at the end of the schedule.

Durant actually lost its last four regular-season games, to Newsome, Plant, Freedom and Bloomingdale. But, Sheffield said, "it put us in a situation here we're playing strong teams, and it worked out."

No tiebreaker was needed to decide the top seed in the boys 6A-8 event, as Durant went 6-0. That tourney started Tuesday at Sarasota High. Durant entered with a stellar 21-2 record.

Durant will play tonight, potentially against Plant City with a spot in the 6A playoffs on the line. The Raiders were scheduled to take on Sarasota Riverview in a first-round game Tuesday, and the winner gets Durant tonight at 8. In the other half of the bracket, the first-round matchups were Sarasota vs. Riverview and second-seeded East Bay vs. Lakeland.

The district finals are Friday at 7 p.m.

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