As the regular season has come to an end, many local teams have something to be happy about entering the district tournaments. In particular, the girls soccer picture has been shaken up by the efforts of all three area schools.
LADY COUGARS
For the past few years, Plant City enjoyed life as the top dog in the area. There’s still a dominant, one-loss team in town these days, but it’s on the other end of the Redman rivalry.
Durant finished the season with an 8-1-3 (2-0-3 district), earning a first-round bye in the district tourney and sending off its seniors on a hot streak. After playing East Bay to an 0-0 tie on Dec. 16, the Lady Cougars returned from winter break with 8-0 and 9-0 home wins over Freedom and Lennard, respectively.
The Lady Cougars outscored opponents, 48-12, and lost only to Plant on Dec. 10. Susan Peet’s squad mercy-ruled the Lady Longhorns by halftime in the final game of the season, etching this team in the school’s books as one of the best regular-season efforts in program history.
LADY RAIDERS
The Lady Raiders started out well, as usual. The team outscored Gaither and Lennard, 16-0 in the first two games but faltered around mid-season.
The team did go up big whenever it won, allowing five goals while scoring 46. But when teams either kept it close or went up by two goals, things didn’t go so well. Plant City was outscored, 13-4, in its losses, which include a 5-0 loss to Newsome on Dec. 15 and back-to-back losses to East Bay and Durant on Dec. 4 and 8. It finished with a 7-4-0 (2-3-0 district) record.
In the first round of the district tournament, Plant City was upset, 1-0, by Strawberry Crest.
LADY CHARGERS
Things are also looking up for the Lady Chargers.
Crest posted a 6-6-1 (1-3-1 district) regular-season record, that, although forgettable in district play, showed some life against neutral teams. The team started out with a 2-0 record following wins over Wharton (5-3) and Lennard (4-2) and played a solid Newsome squad to a 2-2 tie. The Lady Chargers closed things out with an 8-0 win over Blake on Jan. 7 — the team’s biggest win of the season.
In the first round of the district tournament, Crest got revenge for its 6-2 loss at Plant City on Dec. 16. The Lady Chargers were able to score in extra time to pick up a 1-0 win over their crosstown rivals, setting up a Dec. 12 rematch with Newsome.
DURANT BOYS
Things weren’t so hot on the Durant boys’ side, but the Cougars did get to end regular-season play on a good note.
Durant posted a 4-7-1 (1-3-1 district) regular-season record, struggling to find its scoring touch until January. The team had a 1-6-1 record before winning three of its final four matches. It got back on track with a 2-1 win over East Bay on Dec. 16 and went undefeated in January. The Cougars outscored Freedom and Lennard, 6-3, on Jan. 5 and 7, respectively.
PLANT CITY BOYS
Fortunately for PCHS, the boys have played well throughout this season.
The Raiders finished the regular season with a 6-1-4 (1-1-3 district), only taking a 2-1 loss against Riverview on Nov. 18. Plant City had little trouble scoring goals. The team netted 44 total, including 10 in the final game of the season, and it was generally able to hold big leads.
But, when teams played the Raiders close, they were often able to hang in. Three of the Raiders’ four ties — versus East Bay, Newsome and Middleton — held 2-2 scores, and the Dec. 8 Durant game ended in a 1-1 tie. In fact, the only December game that did not end in a tie was the Dec. 11, 4-1 win at Freedom.
Having ended the season with a Jan. 5, 3-1 win over Crest and a Jan. 8, 10-2 win over Spoto, Plant City enters the district tourney with plenty of momentum.
CREST BOYS
For roughly half of the season, Strawberry Crest proved to be a streaky team.
The Chargers got off to a red-hot start, winning their first four games by a combined score of 11-3.
In mid-November, the team went on a cold streak and dropped three consecutive matches — in which Crest was outscored, 7-3.
Crest then got in the habit of winning every other game, starting with a 4-1 win over East Bay on Dec. 8. It dropped a 4-0 match at Riverview on Dec. 15, followed by a 3-2 win at Armwood two days later. The team came back from winter break with a 3-1 loss at Plant City Jan. 5. Most recently, Crest picked up a solid 5-2 win at Blake on Jan. 7 — the team’s highest-scoring game of the year.
The Chargers are set to host Wharton Friday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m., in what will be the team’s final game of the year.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.