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Highlands Today

DeSoto Sweeps Avon Park Soccer

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park's Guadelupe Luevano and DeSoto's Stephanie Carrillo fight for control of the ball during Thursday's district match-up at Joe Franza Stadium.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: January 10, 2009

AVON PARK - Avon Park girls soccer coach Jocelyn Simplice worked tirelessly before the holidays with his team on proper technique and tips that would make them a more effective squad on both sides of the field.

But much of that work seemed to unravel against the DeSoto Bulldogs at Joe Franza Stadium on Thursday, as the Red Devils were a step slow and a second too late the entire night in a 4-1 loss in the Class 4A-District 10 match-up and season finale for both teams.

"We worked so hard before the holidays and it just seemed that they forgot everything in just a few weeks," Simplice said. "That was the downside of not playing over the holidays. We're just going to have to practice even harder the next five days."

Avon Park has one win over Booker and one tie against Hardee, which could possibly give them a first-round meeting with archrival Sebring with the district tournament looming.

"I don't know who we'll be playing in the tournament. Most of these girls haven't had much tournament experience and when you're building a program from scratch, any experience is good," said Simplice, who also said that his Red Devils match-up well with Sebring if they were to meet them in the tournament. "We played them close last time and we just need to learn how to finish. That's our biggest downside right now."

In the case of the Red Devils offense, it looks to be a case of the wrong execution of the right idea.

So many times against DeSoto, Avon Park players were bunched together and their passes didn't have the right touch and were intercepted or their shots on goal didn't have enough power and were caught easily.

In contrast, DeSoto looked like a team that had been playing together for years. The Bulldogs made passes with a purpose and every movement seemed to be by design.

This fluid movement by the Bulldogs led to three quick goals in the first half that seemed to knock the wind out of Avon Park.

DeSoto's Aileen Ariciaga scored back-to-back goals in single coverage within a few minutes, as she got ahead of the Avon Park defense and easily slipped the ball into the goal for a quick 2-0 lead.

Teammate Kelsey Barnwell followed Ariciaga's performance with a power shot from the right side that caught the Avon Park defense napping for the 3-0 lead at the half.

Simplice tried to instill confidence in his team at the half, telling them that they could beat this team.

"We are just as good as they are," Simplice said. "You just have to got out and show them that."

Avon Park's Ch'quen Wilmot took heed of Simplice's words and battled through a double team to score with a beautiful crossing shot from the left side to cut the Bulldog lead to two at the 55 minute mark.

But DeSoto's Juany Gonzalez added an insurance goal at the midway point of the second half for the margin of victory.

Senior Angie Carrillo, who returned to the soccer team after taking a year off, is proud of the effort her teammates have given over the course of the season and is looking forward to the upcoming district tournament.

"We really work well together although I think the holiday break didn't do is too much good tonight," Carrillo said. "I'm really glad I returned for my senior season and the team is in good spirits. We just need to fine tune what Coach Simplice has been teaching us during practice and give it everything we have during the tournament."

A huge bright spot for the Red Devils was the play of goalie Jacqueline Yanez, who made 22 saves on the night.

"Jacqueline has been playing great lately and we're really going to need her at her best for the tournament," Simplice said.

With Braden River and Palmetto battling it out for the districts top spot, Avon Park will wait until next week to find out whom they'll play in the upcoming tournament.

No matter whom they play, Simplice was adamant with his girls about their commitment to making sure they dedicate themselves to practice this week.

"We have five days to prepare and we need to take advantage of that time," said Simplice to his players after the game. "You owe it to your school, your teammates and yourselves to practice hard and get ready for whomever we face."

BOYS SOCCER: DeSoto 5, Avon Park 0

DeSoto junior's Orlando Sanchez and Mario Alvarez each scored two goals, as the Bulldogs trounced the Red Devils 5-0 in a Class 4A-District 10 match-up at Joe Franza Stadium on Thursday.

Avon Park was forced to constantly play defense by DeSoto's ball movement and defensive front that limited the Red Devils scoring opportunities.

The Bulldogs scored in quit succession in the opening minutes of the game, with Sanchez punching through the first two goals with pinpoint crossing shots while Alvarez scored at the 14 minute mark on a breakaway for a quick 3-0 lead.

Avon Park's Vilsoir Satine had several scoring chances in the first half, including a direct kick from 15 yards out, but DeSoto's defense swarmed to the ball to drowned the Red Devil offense.

Avon Park goalie Arnaud Lewis did a solid job in goal considering he was bombarded from shots from all angles from DeSoto.

"DeSoto was really aggressive tonight and we just couldn't put together anything offensively to match their intensity," Lewis said. "I know I'm in goal, but I can see that we're needing to pass the ball more and communicate more on the field. We have to set up our scorers better."

DeSoto's Miguel Candelas scored with a top shelf shot over Lewis' head moments into the second half and Alvarez scored his second goal when the ball crossed the plane of the goal before Lewis could stop it for the game's final goal.

With the district tournament coming soon, Avon Park head coach Craig Morris is happy with his team's play considering where they were in the beginning.

"This team started from nowhere and I think we've come a long way," Morris said. "Offensively, we still need to work on being more consistent and getting more scoring chances, but we're getting better each game."

When asked about the tournament, Morris said that his team has very few players with tournament experience and values this time of the year.

"The tournament is a whole other ball game and most of these kids haven't experience that kind of play," Morris said. "We're going to work on passing more than anything to get ready for the tournament and use the next few games we have left to get better offensively."

Due to a rules violation, Avon Park was given two victories over Sarasota Booker and coupled with the tie against Hardee, could be given the No. 7 seed when all things are said and done.

A possible first round match-up with rival Sebring could be in the works depending on how things shape up, but Morris hasn't thought about the tournament right now.

"Right now, I just want to focus on the games we have left in the season and then see who we play," Morris said. "We still have plenty of soccer left to play."

Avon Park is back action on Jan. 16 when they travel to face Frostproof. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5837 or choffman@highlandstoday.com.

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