Mainland's girls and both Seabreeze teams win openers at the Five Star Conference Soccer Tournament

Seabreeze's girls squad advanced to Thursday's championship game with a semifinal win over Mainland.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 4:00 p.m. January 11, 2023
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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The road to success can be long, difficult and diverse. 

Both Seabreeze soccer teams won their Five Star Conference Soccer Tournament openers on Saturday, Jan. 7, but the similarities stopped there.

An eight-goal mercy rule came into play in the Seabreeze girls game as the Sandcrabs defeated Taylor 10-1 with the game ending at halftime. Seabreeze’s boys, however, needed overtime to defeat DeLand, 4-3.

Mainland also won its game against DeLand, 5-1, with both coaches questioning the possible outcome amidst a total of 13 players out, eight of whom are starters, due to injury or illness.

All three teams moved on to the semifinals on Jan. 10, where only the Seabreeze girls survived to advance to the conference championship. The Sandcrabs defeated Mainland 5-0, and will meet Spruce Creek in the final at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex. Taylor upset the Seabreeze boys, 1-0 in the semis.

Mercy in the first round

Power house Brianna Chesley scored the first goal in the first 17 seconds of the game, and she added a a barrage of four more goals before the game was called at halftime. Freshman Olivia Chase added three goals, and Morgan Long and Annabel Thistle scored one each.

Seabreeze coach Eli Freidus was still disappointed that the Sandcrabs gave up a goal on a corner kick. He believes his players knew they were going to win and did not execute accordingly.

“We’ve had three mercy rules in a row now,” Freidus said. “From a coaching perspective, we never want them to stop working to get better, so we’ve got to work on little details. For the most part, they did a really good job.”

The Sandcrabs did not change its tactics against Mainland.

“We want to possess and physically win the ball,” Freidus said after the Taylor game. “I always like aggressiveness all over the field, winning the ball. That’s what we’ll especially be looking for. And when we do win them, we’ve got to string some passes together and finish. We’ve got to finish.”

Seabreeze improved to 9-6 with the win over the Buccaneers, who fell to 10-2.

Players down

Mainland advanced to the semifinals with both the Bucs and DeLand Bulldogs feeling the effect of players being out due to illness and injury. The Bucs were down seven players, including three starters, and the Bulldogs were down five starters.

“Neither of the teams knew what to expect,” Mainland coach James Harden said.

New to the Bucs’ roster is Brazilian player Victoria Albuquerque De Oliveira, who scored one goal and had one assist. Teammates Abby Tripp had one goal and Lauren Abrahams brought home two goals with one assist. The final score came from a save by the DeLand goalie that deflected off of a player, resulting in an own-goal.

Confidence is the difference between the start of the season and now. Mainland lost to DeLand 2-1 in the last 30 seconds of the first game.

“We are doing very well,” Harden said. “Going into the season, our schedule was very favorable. I had a ton of returning, experienced players coming back. We are senior- and sophomore-heavy. The mix of those players has been amazing. Just recently we’ve gained more confidence. This is our 10th win in a row. We are growing as a team. They are believing in themselves, and it’s showing on the field. I’m very proud of their efforts.”

Chaos up top

Seabreeze’s boys were given a well-deserved night off prior to the tournament due to a physically demanding 1-0 win against Bartram Trail on Thursday, Jan. 5. The win was significant because of the Bears’ tie against Jacksonville Mandarin, which is ranked third in the state.

The Sandcrabs lagged in the first half, with DeLand leading 3-0 until just before halftime when Cole Miller put Seabreeze on the board.

Miller turned on the heat in the second half, scoring two more goals, pushing the game into overtime. Midfielder Michael Hogan snuck in the final goal in OT for the win.

“We definitely made it interesting. I think DeLand made some changes from the first time we played which caught us off-balance in the beginning. Probably why this game is such a tough result for us. It was a hard-fought win.”

JON KINSLER, Seabreeze head coach

“We definitely made it interesting,” Seabreeze coach Jon Kinsler said. “I think DeLand made some changes from the first time we played, which caught us off-balance in the beginning. It was a hard-fought win.”

The coaches gave the players an ultimatum at halftime — continue to be upset about being down 3-0 or get it together and start fighting back. They chose the latter. Kinsler also put his center back, Hector Vasquez, up top to create some chaos. The senior hadn’t played  forward since he was 11 years old.

“I was really very nervous because we were down 3-1,” Vasquez said. “Coach is a tactical genius, right there. If it wasn’t for the coach, I wouldn’t have been up there. It’s honorable. Brings back memories. I love that position. I’ll do that again 100 percent.”

 

 

 

 

 

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