By Tamas Mondovics
Thanks to so many great teams in the region, the weeklong girls soccer district championship tournament proved to be as exciting as expected. The winners, just to name a couple, included Newsome and Bloomingdale as both programs representing their assigned brackets managed to advance to the playoffs as district champions.
To earn the Class 5A, District 6 title, Newsome defeated East Bay 2-0. While taking the crown, the win was a far cry from the Wolves easy 8-0 win the last time the two teams met in November.
Ending the regular season with a 15-2-2 record, Newsome claimed its 12th consecutive post season appearance, which means that the team has reached the playoffs every year since the school opened in 2004.
Newsome Head Coach Kelly Townsend was clearly pleased with her team’s chance to move forward to the next round, but has acknowledged that the girls are not without room for improvement, which was also clearly seen during the low scoring district title game against East Bay.
“Winning this year’s district feels as good as the first,” Townsend said, adding that in the end it’s the goals that count. “We must do better, including making our chances and opportunities to score count.”
Wolves Assistant Coach John Evensen added, “We took a lot of shots but they have to find the net.”
Newsome managed to get one goal in each half, starting with the first in the 26th minute as Lauren Evans connected with the ball in the box and finishing the play by sinking it in the net for a 1-0 lead.
Newsome senior Lindsey Eaton got a chance to widen the gap in the 73rd minute, which she skillfully did. After a couple of touches and getting around the East Bay defender, Eaton did what she has been doing for her team all year: score the wining goal.
Across town, the celebration of winning this year’s district title was also making some noise as the Bloomingdale Bulls defeated King 6-1 and successfully closed the week-long tournament as Class 4A, District 9 champions.
The win also means that the young, freshmen-filled, somewhat inexperienced but very talented Lady Bulls have returned to the post season for the first time in three years.
Bulls’ Head Coach Heather Iverson acknowledged her team’s youthfulness, but confidently confirmed her team’s future chances for success when she said, “These kids may be young, but they can play.”
The Florida high school girls soccer state championships are scheduled for Monday through Saturday, February, 1-6 at Melbourne High School located at 74 Bulldog Blvd. in Melbourne. For more information about the girls soccer results, visit www.fhsaa.org.
