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Highlands Today

Tigers Tame Blue Streaks

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Sebring's Katie Bullard 4 battles for the ball with Clewiston's Leslie Almanza 7 and Diana Hernandez 15 during the first half od Monday night's soccer match at Firemen's Field.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: November 19, 2008

SEBRING - With a young, inexperienced squad and players trying different positions, the Sebring girls soccer team gave Clewiston a tough match, but ended up on the short end of a 3-1 score to the Tigers on Monday night at Firemen's Field.

The win improved Clewiston to 4-1-1, while the loss dropped the Blue Streaks to 1-2.

Sebring enjoyed a 1-0 lead at the half, but a lack of offensive firepower and a couple of defensive lapses proved costly in the second half.

"Clewiston stepped it up in the second half and got some good touches on the ball," said Blue Streak coach Steve Ashley. "They moved the ball around well and we had a couple of mistakes on defense that really hurt us.

"We need to do a better job of maintaining possession on our first touches and not holding on to the ball because that gives the defense a chance to get back in position."

Sebring started the match moving the ball well and struck first when senior forward Ricki Albritton eluded several Tiger defenders and passed to a wide open Karrie Lester who drilled a shot into the upper-right corner for a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute

"We got the early goal and that helped our confidence," Ashley said. "But we have to get rid of the ball quicker to set up more scoring chances."

Clewiston, which had 16 shots, peppered the Blue Streak goal the rest of the half, but junior keeper Misha Hahn was up to the task and kept the Tigers off the board.

Sebring, which had only eight shots on goal, had scoring threat Amanda Grimaldo back as a sweeper on defense, which allowed Clewiston to keep close tabs on Blue Streak forwards Maxime Copley Lester and Albritton..

"The girls feel more confident with Amanda back on defense and Misha is an inexperienced goalie," said Ashley. "Amanda is able to clear the ball out and that helps our defense.

"We're a young team and we'll improve with each match we play."

Clewiston broke through when Brenda Predencia corralled a rebound in front of the Sebring goal and kicked it past Hahn to tie the match in the 46th minute.

The Tigers struck again when Courtney Moore scored in the 57th minute and they sealed the win with a header by Diana Hernandez off a corner kick with 26:31 remaining in the match.

"We weren't aggressive enough in the box," said Ashley "We made some bad decisions in front of our goal and you can't do that against good teams.

"We had a couple of scoring opportunities that we didn't take advantage of and our inexperience showed in the second half, but I'm proud of the girls because they played hard and never quit."

Sebring is back in action with a Class 4A-District 10 match at Palmetto on Thursday.

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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