Avon Park Loses To Braden River

The stakes were not as high as the last time these two teams took the field, but the play was just as intense.

The Avon Park Red Devil girls soccer team played a scrappy first half, holding the high-scoring Braden River Pirates to just two goals with a bevy of young players.

But the Red Devil defense had no answer for the Pirate's Nikki Gainey, who scored four goals in Braden River's 8-0 mercy-rule victory over Avon Park (0-2) at Joe Franza Stadium on Tuesday.

The last time these teams met was in the Class 4A-District 10 district semifinals in a 100 minute spectacular that was decided on penalty kicks, with the Pirates winning 2-1 to end AP's season.
This match saw a Braden River (1-0) team that has the chemistry already in midseason form, while Avon Park struggled to find a cohesive unit at times.

The Pirates defense swarmed Avon Park's strikers to negate scoring chances. AP senior Alex Brock on the wing and Julie Lamb in the middle had two Pirate defenders on them every time they touched the ball, limiting the Red Devils to four shots on goal for the game.

"We really need to work on teamwork," Brock said. "This is only our second game, but our communication has to improve.

"The captains, myself included, need to work on being the vocal leaders on the field."
Practice time for the varsity squad has been minimal, as players from fall sports have just joined the team, compounded with injuries have limited AP head coach Greg Thacker from having his whole team on the field at one time. Such limitations were evident on the field, as the chemistry that a team generates during practice has yet to form.

"Without the benefit of practices with all the members of the varsity team, I am still trying to see where to put girls," Thacker said. "It takes time to get the right chemistry with all the new girls on the team."

A bright spot for the Red Devils was the emergence of sophomore midfielder Brenda Bellus, who was the physical leader for AP, using her bruising style of play to hold the Pirates forwards at bay for most of the first half.

Red Devil goalie Kristazsa Allong played a fantastic game in only her second game in net, making numerous diving saves to keep AP in contention for the first half of the game.