Local Sports

Sebring edges Avon Park in boys, girls district soccer

Photos

JIM TAYLOR
Published: December 13, 2012

AVON PARK - Sebring knocked off Avon Park in girls and boys soccer matches.

The Blue Streaks used a potent offense and a tight defense to ease past the Red Devils by a score of 4-0 in girls district soccer. Sebring outlasted Avon Park 2-0 in the boys match.

The win improved the Blue Streak girls to 4-8-3 on the season, while the loss dropped the Red Devils to 1-6.

"We had four girls missing today due to other activities," said Avon Park coach Christopher Sboto. "But our girls stepped up. Overall, I can't be prouder; with the heat and everything, they stayed in the game."

Sebring's Sara Smith scored the first goal of the match to give the Blue Streaks a 1-0 lead in the first half. Kelby Mahoney added a second goal at the 31-minute mark as Sebring went into the half with a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, Sebring and Avon Park battled for nearly 19 minutes as neither team was able to score. Sebring finally broke the ice in the second half when Haylee Peters scored to put the Blue Streaks up 3-0.

Sebring's Marianna Becker capped off the scoring when she netted a shot at the 26th minute of the second half to put Sebring up 4-0.

Though the Avon Park girls squad is getting better, Sboto stated that the girls have a lot of pride and though it was sort of a victory to play the whole game, they were still upset that they lost.

"That's what I like to see, that they want to win games and they want to be competitive," Sboto said. "We have a group of young girls that as long as they stay committed, I look to see how they improve in the future. Our seniors are showing a lot of leadership and bringing the young girls around."

Sebring hosts McKeel Academy tonight at Firemen's Field.

The game against the Wildcats will be a strong test for the Blue Streaks as both Winter Haven and McKeel sit on top of the Class 3A-District 9 standings with 5-1-2 and 5-1-1 district records, respectively. Currently, Sebring is 2-5-1 in the district.

In the boys match, Sebring utilized the contest to put players in different positions — something that Avon Park was not able to do, being shorthanded.

The Blue Streaks edged the Red Devils 2-0 in a highly competitive game between county rivals.

The victory improved Sebring to 6-5-1 for the season, while the loss kept Avon Park winless on the season at 0-6.

"I was happy with how we played; we tried some different positioning and making the players gain a wider experience," said Sebring coach Keith Bowyer. "Our attack was not quite as strong, but you could tell I put our top 10 back on to get a couple then go back to what we were doing."

Sebring controlled the action for the first 15 minutes of the match but was unable to score. Toward the midpoint of the first half, Avon Park began to dominate the tempo as the momentum began to shift in their direction.

Avon Park was unable to capitalize and the two teams played fairly even for the last 20 minutes as neither team could find the back of the net.

"We have a brand new crew we are starting to work with and I'm very happy," said Avon Park coach Victor Munoz. "We're going to get stronger and stronger. We were missing three guys; one had to work and the others were out of town."

Sebring shifted back to its normal starters in the second half. The result was instantaneous as the Blue Streaks scored in the second minute on a goal by Elias Salgado to go up 1-0.

Sebring added a second goal in the 40th minute. David Magana kicked a throw-in from near the right corner into the goal to put the Blue Streaks up 2-0.

Avon Park had several scoring chances, but the Sebring defense kept the shutout intact.

"We need at little bit more power up front and I think we will be able to score," said Munoz. "We were shorthanded today, but they put 100 percent of their hearts in it and that counts. This group does not have the best of skills, but they want to learn and improve and that's what we're here for."

Sebring is looking at improving with each match.

"We went with our normal starting positions in the second half," said Bowyer. "Just to show what our top 10 are really like. I told them to stay calm and play like you normally would, not just as rough. We don't want any injuries in a game that should be fairly friendly, but it is a rivalry and I wanted to make sure we won."

Sebring is at Winter Haven tonight.

The Blue Streaks are one point behind the Blue Devils for second place in the district with the top two teams getting a first-round bye in the district tournament.