Basil Spyridakos, Times Correspondent
Saturday, January 22, 2011
PALM HARBOR — Palm Harbor University made the proper second-half adjustments Friday and showed why it is the defending state champion in winning consecutive 6A-7 district titles, defeating St. Petersburg 2-0.
The Hurricanes struggled to get their offense in motion and played passive at the beginning of the first half. The Green Devils' strong defense and ability to quickly retaliate kept Hurricanes coach John Planamenta from forcing the ball up harder.
"I told the girls to watch out for their counterattack and I kept some players back," Planamenta said. "We don't want to push players forward in that situation because it would start to open things up."
The result was a 0-0 tie going into the half and the game stayed scoreless until the 74th minute. PHU's Cory Amend sent a lob pass to Kelly Phipps, who chased down the ball for the game's first goal.
"We were panicking, but once we started getting a rhythm everyone started getting their composure back," Phipps said. "We felt once we got the first goal then the second one would come."
And Phipps was right. In the 83rd minute Anja Decker passed to Katie Im, who sped into a breakaway and shot the ball into the back of the net to seal the Hurricanes' victory.
"We were playing too panicked at the beginning of the game," Planamenta said. "We created a lot more chances in the second half."
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