Pye and Sharks Win District Final Over Hornets

The Nature Coast Sharks (11-4-4) downed the Weeki Wachee Hornets (10-8-1) in the 2024 Boys Soccer District Tournament – 4A District 6 final on Wednesday night. The Sharks controlled throughout in a 4-2 victory at home, and they did not allow a single goal until late in the contest. After the game, Nature Coast Head Coach Sal Calabrese gave kudos to his opponents while highlighting a standout in the matchup: Senior Hunter Pye.

“They are a tough group to play against,” Coach Calabrese said. “I love that coach dearly and […] They are not bad. They are actually pretty good […] We started off, we scored a goal right away. I mean that set the tone, I hope, right away. We missed a couple of chances, but our center/forward, Hunter, he buried two beauties. I was excited.”

Hunter even played a pivotal role in the only Sharks’ goal of the night that he did not score. A mere 30 seconds into the matchup, Pye sprinted down the field with the ball and launched a ball that was blocked by GK John Brooks. When this happened, the ball bounced off Brooks and towards the feet of Sophomore Logan Carey who kicked it past the still recovering goalie.

Then came the “two beauties” the coach mentioned. After 11-plus minutes of back-and-forth possessions on each other’s sides of the field, Pye struck again. His first score came when he sped past defenders down the left side of the field and rifled the ball to the far post. A well-placed shot in that situation is nearly indefensible, and Hunter’s was perfect.

“He is just very quick. For the last couple days, his finishing has been a lot better. He tucked two beauties away; one in this half in this back post here and the other one is the back post over there,” Coach Calabrese said gesturing to both goals. “Those were two beauties. Then the last one, he was just open one versus one. That was nothing. He does that all the time.”

Pye would go down late in the first half with an apparent eye injury and the scoring stopped as a result. Following the contest, his coach clarified that he “got knocked in the eye, he has got a little lump there.” The second “beauty” came not long after the senior returned to play in the second half. Just over eight minutes into the second frame, Hunter made a nice move with the ball to get past defenders and fired a near carbon copy of his earlier shot to the far post. This one also snuck just inside the net with little hope of being defended by Brooks.

The score held at 3-0 for much of the half until four minutes remaining in regulation. The visitors would then score a pair of goals, but Pye responded by completing the hat trick with his late one versus one score. Weeki Wachee’s second goal happened quickly when Senior Cory Fengarinas lofted a long kick over Senior GK Cole Pretorius’ head. The goalie had been having a strong night up to this point, but Fengarinas snuck one in after the keeper crept too far out of the goal. Despite the late hiccup, the matchup was never truly in doubt as the Sharks took home the district championship.

While Weeki Wachee’s season is done, the Sharks will advance to play in the regional tournament. Though they do not yet know who they will face, they will find out on Friday. For Coach Calabrese and company, they will continue to “work on a few things, tweak some things up, and we will see how it goes from there,” but at this point in the season, “you either have it or you do not have it.

Weeki Wachee at Nature Coast Boys Soccer District Final

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