Article and Photography by ALICE MARY HERDEN
Brooksville, Fla.– Nature Coast Tech boys and girls soccer teams held steady till the clock reached zero during the district championship final tournament game on Friday night, Feb. 7, 2020.
The boys Nature Coast Tech soccer team fought hard until the very end, but Cypress Creek’s defensive mindset was to hold on to the one and the only goal throughout the second half. Unfortunately, Nature Coast Tech couldn’t out position Cypress Creek’s defense to score.
“The bottom line is we didn’t finish our chances,” said Nature Coach Tech Sal Calabrese. “They played really well, and I can’t ask for anything more than what they did. We just didn’t finish our chances we had in the first half.”
On the girl’s side, it was an intense game with two overtime opportunities to gain a goal. However, the Lady Sharks were defeated by Wesley Chapel 1-0.
“I think Wesley Chapel came out a little bit stronger right at the start of the game, then after that, we applied a lot more pressure, and we are able to take a little bit control of the game,” Nature Coast Tech girls soccer coach Brandon Chitwood said. “There’s always going to be who got that one little chance, that one little opportunity to put the game away, and we almost had it.”
“Of course there were a lot of tears after the game. They really pushed hard for it and I will never question how hard they played or the way they played. It’s just that the ball didn’t fall in front of us quite like it did for them at the most critical time,” Chitwood said. “It was a really good game, but the season is not over.”
Now all the focus will be on Regionals for both Nature Coast Tech’s boys and girls soccer teams.
Boys Regionals District Tournaments begin Feb.12.
Girls Regionals District Tournaments begin Feb. 11.
