Pirates Skip Past Streaks

Braden River's Nikki Gainey sent a shot from 30 yards out and all the Sebring players could do was watch it go into the net, as the Pirate captain scored within the first minute of a Class 4A-District 10 tournament game on Wednesday.

Gainey, who scored her 100th career goal in the final game of the season and two goals against the Streaks, set the tone from the opening moments for the Pirates as they dominated Sebring in nearly every aspect of the game on their way to a 6-0 victory.

"We had no hustle tonight and some people might say it was because of the quick turnaround from last night's game, but we can't use that as an excuse," said Sebring senior Lisa Pryzchocki. "We put all our strength in the back and we had no offensive push up front, which meant hardly any scoring chances."

Sebring head coach Steve Ashley started three freshmen up front, which meant inexperienced forwards against a well-seasoned Pirate squad.

"We were outclassed tonight by Braden River," Ashley said. "Braden River has been together for four years and you can tell with the precision in which they play the game.

"I felt that we made some adjustments and disrupted their offense in the second half, but the hole was too big to get out of."

Sebring had a quick turnaround from Tuesday's 3-1 penalty kick win over Avon Park.

After getting home after 1 a.m., the Streaks had to be in class the entire day on very little sleep, then leave to make the 6 p.m. start time.

But Pryzchocki wasn't alone in the tone she took with her team, denying fatigue had anything to do with the loss to the Pirates.

"The first half was all about attitude," said senior Ricki Albritton. "Lisa was trying her best to rally the team, but she can't do it all by herself.

"I broke at half time. I put my heart into this team. I told them that so many of them we're not just giving up on their team, but they were giving up on themselves. I'm so disappointed."

Braden River's footwork and ball control mesmerized the Sebring team that it seemed that the Streaks were standing still.

Ashley Nelson faked out a pair of Sebring defenders for a clean shot at an easy top-shelf goal for the 2-0 lead and striker Kristen Hoff continued the barrage with a beautiful crossing shot that hit nothing but net.

The Sebring offense was stifled due to the intense pressure the Braden River defense put on the forwards, which kept the action on the Sebring side of the field for most of the match.

Sebring's McKenzie Hargaden had the best shot of the night for the Streaks at the 63-minute mark, but was corralled by Pirates goalie Morgan Croft to preserve the shutout.

Gainey scored her second goal at the 46-minute mark and striker Jessica Price followed moments later for the margin of victory.

After the match, Ashley lamented on the state of soccer in Highlands County and tried to provide a solution for a more competitive balance coming out of the Heartland.

"I believe we need to sit down collectively and seriously look at where we want to take the soccer programs from here," Ashley said. "I think we need a travel ball system in place, even if we only play teams from the area like Avon Park, Lake Placid, Hardee, Frostproof and DeSoto.

"We need to identify the girls who are really serious about soccer and develop their skills and hopefully create more competitive teams than we have in the past."

Ashley does have some pieces in place for next season with the emergence of junior goalie Misha Hahn, who had a solid second half of the season in net, junior Erica Rodriguez and freshman Hargaden, among others.

"We're going to try and do something to give these girls more than three months of playing time," Ashley said. "There's a lot of potential on this roster and it's going to be fun in trying to help them develop and become a stronger team next season."