A sensational senior season continued for Raul Maldonado, as the Springstead forward posted his finest game to date on Dec. 16. However, the Eagles finished the week suffering their first loss of the season.
Maldonado scored a season-high four goals in a 4-1 victory over The Villages in that Dec. 16 matchup. He followed with two more goals on Dec. 18 in a 3-1 victory at Land O’ Lakes. Douglas Kelly scored the other goal in that one and also had an assist.
Through that Land O’ Lakes match, Maldonado had scored 19 goals and had 42 points. The next closest teammate in either category was Christian Gies with eight goals and 21 points.
Those first two wins last week made the Eagles 11-0 on the season and they hadn’t given up more than one goal in any match. Both those streaks were ended on Friday night when Springstead fell at home in a 2-1 upset against Cypress Creek.
Although the Coyotes came in at 4-6, that record could be a bit misleading. They went through a five-game losing streak but it was against opponents who are currently a combined 59-7-3.
In girls soccer, Springstead ended the week at 7-6 thanks to a 4-2 victory on Thursday at South Lake. Freshman Amanda Soults had two goals and an assist, while Lily Isaksen and Gianna Bryan each had a goal and an assist. Soults leads the team with six goals and 17 points.
Nature Coast, which began the season 7-1, went 0-1-1 last week and has gone 1-3-1 over its past five matches. After playing to a scoreless tie on Dec. 17, the Sharks lost 3-0 at Land O’ Lakes on Friday and sit 8-4-1 overall.
Junior Giada Chechile continues to have a stellar season for Nature Coast, having scored 25 goals and dished out 13 assists for 63 points in 13 games.
Springstead’s girls basketball team began last week with its second loss of the season, 41-32 at Sunlake on Dec. 16, but bounced back with wins at Citrus on Dec. 17 (58-40) and at Fivay on Friday (51-22) to improve to 10-2.
Addison Osborne finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals against Citrus, while Ariana Willoughby chipped in with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. The freshman Willoughby leads the team in scoring averaging 11.2 points to go along with 5.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.4 steals. The junior Osborne has also made key contributions while averaging 9.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals.
Weeki Wachee’s girls are 9-2 and riding a five-game winning streak. The Hornets added to that on Dec. 17 with a 57-22 triumph at Hernando. Joelys Rodriguez scored 17 points to go with nine points, six rebounds and six assists. Reese Halter added 14 points and two blocks, while Genesis Beal had 10 points and two steals.
The junior Rodriguez is averaging 15.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 5.3 steals, making 15 3-pointers.
Hernando came back on Thursday with a 53-50 in over Hudson and the Leopards sit at 5-5. Ayana Kincade scored a season-high 26 points and is averaging 15.6 points overall.
Daniel Merizalde put together three solid games to lead the Hernando boys basketball team to a 2-1 week. He scored 20 points with eight assists in a Dec. 17 70-45 victory against Weeki Wachee, added 19 points, four assists and three steals the next day versus Dunnellon in a 71-56 loss, and 20 points with seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block while making four 3-pointers in a 65-40 win at Academy at the Lakes on Friday.
The Leopards are 8-3 with Merizalde averaging a team-best 13.0 points, along with 4.0 assists and 2.7 steals.
Central’s boys went over .500 last week at 6-5 with wins over Angeline Academy of Innovation on Dec. 16 (62-25) and Crystal River on Dec. 17 (49-37).
Xavior Haegele scored 25 points while making 7 3-pointers against Angeline, then collected 18 points and seven rebounds versus the Pirates. The junior is averaging 15.2 points, behind Braydon Prospero at 17.5. Prospero scored 11 points against Crystal River after not playing against Angeline.
Weeki Wachee nearly pulled out its first win of the season last Thursday in a 75-74 loss at Pasco. Despite that defeat for the Hornets, who are 0-12 overall, junior Logan White had a monster game against the Pirates scoring 36 points while knocking down four 3-pointers to go with five rebounds and three steals. He’s averaging 15.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals.
