The Weeki Wachee Girls Soccer team (8-5) defeated the Citrus Hurricanes (8-8-1) on Wednesday night by a score of 2-1. Coming into the game, the Hornets had won three out of their last four contests and were looking to keep their fortunes heading in the right direction. Citrus was trending less positively with a 1-4 record over their last five outings.
The Green and Black got off to a slow start in the first 20 minutes, allowing an early goal to the visiting Hurricanes about midway through the period. With about 15:25 taken off the clock, Sophomore Tristen Marcic lobbed a corner kick just inside the far corner of the goal to punctuate the visitors’ control of the first quarter of game time.
Then the home team turned up the heat coming out of the first half water break. Despite more possessions on Citrus’ side of the field, Weeki Wachee did not see a change in the scoreboard until the second half.
Then Sophomore Jillian Aldrich took over.
The Hornets star pushed the ball deep into Citrus’ territory and pressured Goalkeeper Riley Tirrell time and again. Then the Hurricanes’ defense bent until it finally broke – twice. The sophomore out of Citrus held up as best she could while recording nine saves, but Aldrich’s onslaught was simply too much. The Hornets’ sophomore scored the final two goals a mere six minutes apart and nearly made more as her volley of shots wore the visitors down in the end.
The other pressing story for Weeki Wachee is the health of the team. When asked if there was anything Head Coach Tom Pellito wanted to work with his squad on moving forward, the answer was simple.
“Staying healthy,” said Coach Pellito. “With illnesses and injuries, we’re making some improvisations with where people are playing. If we got the people, we’ll do the best we can.”
Early in the second period, Citrus Junior Aleyah Mounsey collided with Hornets Goalkeeper Keara Lewis. Both went down, but the junior from Weeki Wachee took a while getting up. Once she was helped off the field, Junior Midfielder Olivia Shields filled in admirably while not allowing any goals for the remainder of the evening.
Despite these difficulties, Coach Pellito and company appear to be handling the situation well.
Weeki Wachee had a few days to rest up before their penultimate matchup of the season at home against the Nature Coast Tech Sharks (7-7-1) tonight (Tuesday night). The Sharks suffered back-to-back 0-8 losses to Sunlake High School and Steinbrenner last week.
“I think the rest of the season we have some tough competition coming up,” Weeki Wachee Coach Anthony Rispierski said. “But I think we have a really good chance of maintaining our win streak and making sure that we carry into the next two games coming up concluding the rest of the regular season really strong. We have great talent on the team and coaching staff is going to push us forward. So, we’re very optimistic.”
