Girls Soccer 301109981
SPRING HILL –
With New York Yankees Grapefruit League tickets going on sale beginning Saturday in Tampa, attention has already swung toward the health of one of America’s greatest natural resources.
In many baseball circles, the Yankees’ right-hander Mariano Rivera is a Hall of Fame shoo-in for Cooperstown.
The same can’t be said for the PED-tainted efforts of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens.
A sense of impending doom for opposing hitters settles in whenever the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Panamian Express takes the mound in late innings for the Bronx Bombers.
Unfortunately, a damaged right knee curtailed his 2012 season.
His 18-year Major League Baseball career features 608 saves in 681 opportunities – a stunning 89 percent success ratio.
Collecting 1,118 strikeouts in 1,051 career games helps push Rivera into urban legend status.
Whenever managers Joe Torre or Joe Girardi have handed the ball to Rivera, he has responded by elevating his game to become the game’s ultimate closer. That’s something every prep athlete would love to emulate.
That was especially true following Thursday’s 2-1 come-from-behind, photo-finish win by Springstead over visiting Nature Coast.
In a game started in 79-degree temperatures at Spring Hill’s Booster Stadium, a stone’s throw from a community that relishes the Yankees – Nature Coast (13-2-1 overall, 5-1-1 county) appeared in the driver’s seat against archrival Springstead (14-3-1 overall, 7-0-1 county).
The two teams had met earlier in the season in Brooksville settling for a scoreless draw.
That pattern continued until 58:00, when a Zavana Schmit pass led to freshman Chelsea Reid’s biggest goal of the season.
Going one-on-one against Eagle senior goalie Emma Betters, Reid juked her en route to depositing her third goal of the season in the back of the net, snapping a tense scoreless tie.
Two minutes later, upon reaching the game’s final water break, Nature Coast’s fourth-year skipper Lisa Masserio – similar to Torre and Girardi – had seen enough and signaled for her closer.
Junior Samantha Oliveira, however, isn’t your ordinary backup keeper.
Oliveira was on the bench for the game’s initial 60 minutes. Due to work-related reasons she was forced to miss Wednesday’s practice, and per team policy she did not start, according to Masserio.
It’s not like the Lady Sharks were panicking. Junior Hailey Lalande saved the one shot aimed at her during the entire 40-minute first half.
At the intermission, Masserio warmed up two keepers and eventually inserted freshman Alissa Augugliaro.
Augugliaro fared well not having to make any saves on the one shot aimed at the goal mouth.
Oliveira was the obvious choice to close out the Lady Sharks’ second Hernando County championship against the Lady Eagles.
Wasn’t Oliveira the main net tender as the Lady Sharks had permitted a paltry five goals through their first 15 matches?
Wasn’t Oliveira – along with stout defenders Victoria Wall and Ashley Chevalier – responsible for the Lady Sharks’ suffocating defense that mounted 13 shutouts – including the last five games in a row?
More importantly, if someone was second-guessing Oliveira’s insertion into the match – wasn’t she voted last winter’s Hernando Today Player of the Year?
Yet, against all odds Springstead buried two goals across the last 12 minutes – both by senior striker Tara Vasquez – both off terrific dishes by frosh center-mid sensation Samantha Betters, to deny the Lady Sharks a repeat.
Afterward Masserio, the county’s defending Coach of the Year, did not make excuses.
The Lady Sharks played without senior forward Emily Myers – the team’s leading scorer.
Myers, the county’s number two scorer with 24 goals and 10 assists, wore a bulky brace on her injured left knee. She was hurt this week against Lecanto. Her availability for next week’s Class 3A, District 6 Tournament is questionable.
With Myers sidelined, Nature Coast’s offense, which came in averaging a school-record five goals per game, managed to squeeze five shots on frame against Emma Betters (three saves).
“I thought most of the game we had good pressure until we had a couple of breakdowns,” noted Masserio, whose club had pieced together a 13-match non-losing streak since Nov. 2’s 4-2 loss to at Shark Tank Stadium to Wiregrass Ranch.
“At the end, they spread the field on us and we lost the ball a couple times in transition,” added Masserio.
On the loss of Myers, “It’s not just the goal-scoring abilities she brings. She’s a four-year starter,” lamented Coach Masserio. “Those are tough kids to replace. Now, the people we put in tonight did a terrific job. But sure, we’re absolutely a better team with her.”
On the difference in the match, “They had some dangerous opportunities in the first meeting, but didn’t capitalize,” recalled Masserio. “I thought we matched up well until the very end. Unfortunately, they took advantage of two opportunities – that’s soccer.”
From the home sideline, “We stuck to our game plan,” pointed out second-year Lady Eagle mentor Scott Wern following Springstead’s 16th county title since 1993-94. “Offensively, we finally got comfortable after the last water break.”
On Sammie Betters’ county-high 17th and 18th assists of the season, “They were both big-time passes,” noted Wern. “Those two (Vasquez and Betters) work really well together. They’re like thunder and lightning. Vasquez played taped up, she was hurting.”
On improving to 15-2-3 lifetime against Nature Coast, “They’re a tough team,” said Wern. “This win is huge for us. It gives us momentum heading into districts. We’re healthy and since we got Haleigh (McDuff) back (from a FHSAA-imposed six-week sanction) all the pieces are coming together.”
Assistant coach David Hayes added, “Nature Coast had real good possession. They’re a tough defensive team. I thought the difference, especially late, was our willingness to win first and second balls.”
From the players’ prospective, Lady Eagle senior forward-turned-defender Kayla Montealegre watched Springstead return to the county champion status of her freshman and sophomore campaigns.
“It really feels great to win, especially the way we did,” smiled the 18-year-old Montealegre. “We all worked as a team. Even when we were down at the final water break, I had no doubt we’d come back.”
Emma Betters, an All-County selection, praised her defensive mates.
“We played great team defense tonight,” pointed out the 16-year-old keeper. “They all did a great job of keeping balls out. Nature Coast got one through ball into the six and unfortunately it went in, but we still came back.”
On the match’s importance, “This was huge confidence-wise,” she said. “It’s a great way to go out. And it’s a huge relief winning a game with so much at stake.”
Sammie Betters’ two assists not only set up the tying and winning goals, but helped her enter an elite fraternity. They pushed her to the exclusive 100-point plateau for the season.
Only two previous Hernando County players have ever reached 100 points in a season: Angie DeAngelis in 1999-00, and Jenny O’Sullivan in 1993-94 and again 1994-95.
“Those two passes were really well-played,” complimented the 17-year-old Vasquez. “I can’t lie; I was waiting for the ball to come out.”
Did any doubt creep in, especially when Oliveira came in as the closer?
“I figured they thought things were getting shaky and that’s why they brought her in,” said the two-time All-County selection for the Eagles as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to Central as a junior. “This was such a big win. I know last year they lost to Nature Coast twice. I’m happy to go out as a senior as county champs.”
Sammie Betters’ precision threads to Vasquez led to her 21st and 22nd goals of the season – the last arriving on a right-footed rise ball that soared over Oliveira’s left shoulder and into the net with less than 30 seconds left in the match.
“On the first one, I was just trying to place it where somebody could finish it,” explained the 15-year-old Sammie Betters. “On the second one, I split two defenders and played the ball off and Tara was right there.
“That last goal was so sweet,” beamed Betters, “Winning the way we did is the ultimate high. A win like this will only help us play further into the playoffs.”
Springstead 2, Nature Coast 1
NCT 0 1 — 1
SPG 0 2 — 2
Goals – NCT: Reid; SPG: Vasquez (2).
Assists – NCT: Schmit; SPG: Samantha Betters (2).
Shots on goal – NCT: 5; SPG: 5.
Saves – NCT: Lalande (1), Augugliaro (0), Oliveira (0); SPG: Emma Betters (3).
Yellow cards – NCT: Baugher (unsporting conduct).
Blue cards – none.
Red cards – none.
Records – Nature Coast (5-1-1 county, 13-2-1 overall), Springstead (7-0-1 county; 14-3-1 overall).
