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6 Teams Reach Disney Showcase

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2007

Two teams won titles last weekend at the Wide World of Sports complex, but six teams achieved their primary goal of advancing through a qualifying tournament to the Disney Soccer Showcase.

RSL Florida's boys under-15 team and girls under-14 squad won their respective divisions.

The under-15s beat Black Watch 5-0 in the final on goals by five different players.

'At the end of the day, the game's not about managers coaching, it's about the players,' RSL coach Iain Munro said.

'We've got a great squad, not just 11 good players but 15 good players, so for the opposition manager it's a bit like watching Brazil taking Ronaldo off the field and putting on Kaka.'

RSL scored two goals in two minutes at the end of the first half, with Jagger Martinez and Sehari Sinclair finding the net. RSL was able to wear down a tired Black Watch squad, which had gone to extra time to advance to the final in a 2-1 win against Orange County.

'We ran out of steam after about 30 minutes,' Black Watch coach Roland Moldovan said. 'First of all physically, and then mentally after the goal, but I thought we had a great weekend. They left everything on the field in the semifinal, and they didn't have that much left for the second game.'

Jake Peterson, Sean Castanon and Harold Gussman added goals in the second half.

Munro was pleased with winning the title, but was more focused on making sure his team played as well as it could.

'It's not about this tournament and the players winning the cup,' Munro said. 'It's about these players developing and seeing if we can produce either professional soccer players or college players. It's for their future.'

RSL's girls under-14 team was led by Kaitlyn Steckel, who scored 11 goals in four games, including two in the final, a 3-1 win against Inter United. But the most important goal of the weekend for RSL came from the head of defender Rebecca Oser, who headed home what proved to be the winning goal in the final off a corner from Nicole Sivyer.

'They brought it to us, and I think in the first half we were really taken aback,' RSL coach Cindy Schofield said. 'We regrouped at halftime and came after them in the second half. Our fitness took over, and we scored a great goal and the momentum just switched to our team.'

Schofield is new to the team, but she already has found out a lot about its competitive spirit.

'This team is very competitive, and as soon as they step on the field, they want to win,' Schofield said. 'That's in training, if we go bowling, it doesn't matter, they want to win.'

RSL also advanced its boys under-17 and under-14 teams to the showcase.

The under-17 squad lost in agonizing fashion to Team Boca on penalties as Boca goalkeeper Matt DiCerbo saved four of five shots.

RSL coach Denny McCaughey was pleased with his team's discipline throughout what was at times a testy game, but he was disappointed to lose in a shootout.

'It should never have come to penalties,' McCaughey said. 'We've got a lot of discipline on this team, and I'm proud of the boys, and hey, you know what, sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way. So next time we'll have to beat them during the time, not in PKs.'

Hillsborough County United's boys under-16 team secured its place in the December showcase with a 2-0 semifinal win against First Coast on goals by Rob Coleman and Boris Simenkovic. Despite losing 3-0 to Kendall in the final, the performance over the weekend pleased Coach Kelvin Jones.

'Our first goal was to get into the tournament in December,' Jones said. 'We got in there, and then our second goal was to win the whole thing, and we fell a little short in the final, and that's the way it goes. I think we maybe got a little fatigued, but the boys did unbelievable. I'm very proud of them.'

Strictly Soccer's boys under-13 squad advanced to the Junior Showcase in November, but let a title slip away after holding a halftime lead against Indian Harbour Beach. Strictly Soccer lost in a shootout.

Ryan Hunt scored for Strictly Soccer in the first half, but Tyler Moscript tied the game in the second half. Dylan Collins then scored the last of Indian Harbour's penalties to give the Three Lions the title.

'On the whole over the weekend, we played well,' Strictly Soccer coach Hans Burt said. 'Winning over Hillsborough, I think it took a lot out of certain players. Our performance in the final, I thought our effort was there, but maybe our brains weren't.'

Katz Contributes To Florida Zone Victory

The Florida Zone team won the Southern Zone Age Group Swimming Championships, finishing with a total of 785 points for the five-day competition.

Taylor Katz of Clearwater Aquatics led the team's efforts in the girls under-12 division, scoring 43 points for the team thanks to wins in the 200-meter freestyle, 400 free, 100 fly and 200 individual medley, in addition to a second place in the 100 free and as part of the 200 free relay.

Stephen Sheridan added points in the boys under-18 division, reaching the final of the 50 free, while the St. Pete Aquatics trio of James Taddeo (16), Cameron Chambers (16) and Katie Frehling (17) added points to the Florida total. Frehling won the girls under-18 100 free final in 58.77.

Reporter Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at nmurray@

tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7717.

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