Seabreeze girls move on to Five Star Conference soccer tournament final

The Sandcrabs girls soccer team kicked off the tournament with a 6-0 win against Taylor. Mainland's boys battled in a 2-1 loss against DeLand.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 11:00 a.m. January 18, 2024
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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The Seabreeze girls kicked off the Five Star Conference soccer tournament with a 6-0 win over the Taylor Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 13 at the Ormond Bech Sports Complex.

Seabreeze then defeated Spruce Creek 3-0 on Tuesday, Jan. 16, in the tournament semifinals to advance to the final. The Sandcrabs will play Flagler Palm Coast at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18. Seabreeze will be trying to win its third straight Five Star title.

The Sandcrabs are 6-6-1 after playing a challenging season that has included games against two St. Johns powerhouse teams — Bartram Trail (11-4-1) and Creekside (8-0-2).

Seabreeze head coach Eli Freidus said he implemented the same game plan this year as he did last season. He believes it is beneficial.

“If you play against those teams consistently, eventually you have to learn how to play faster and that’s what we’re trying to do — play faster,” he said. “We did it last year and it seemed to help us when we played the local teams. We were more ready to go. It helps our speed of play and it really helps our defense.”

Sandcrabs captain Kylie Watson said the win against Taylor rejuvenated the team's morale. She said after playing so many difficult games, it has been hard to get in the mindset of winning but understands the benefits.

“It (the difficult schedule) definitely has helped us get better,” she said. “I feel like having an easy schedule wouldn’t do anything for our team. We need to learn to play defense together and play as one. I feel like you can’t do that with an easy schedule. It’s just not worth it.”

Watson, Anna Buckmaster, Hannah Howell and Olivia Chase each had an assist agast Taylor with Howell and Chase adding one goal apiece. Adding to the tally were Annabel Thistle with two goals and Glaenzer Kirsten and Charlie Deininger with one each.

The local competition is better than it has been. I’m not taking anything for granted. We’ve won this thing two years in a row and the other teams are sick of that. They are ready to beat us. Certainly none of the other teams are intimidated by us. — ELI FREIDUS, Seabreeze girls soccer coach

Freidus said Seabreeze will be hard to beat in this tournament if his players stay healthy and play like they have against some of the tougher teams.

“The local competition is better than it has been,” he said. “I’m not taking anything for granted. We’ve won this thing two years in a row and the other teams are sick of that. They are ready to beat us. Certainly none of the other teams are intimidated by us.”

The Mainland High School boys and girls teams also qualified to play in the Five Star tournament. The boys were defeated 2-1 in a battle with DeLand and the Flagler Palm Coast girls ‘mercied’ the Mainland girls team 8-0.

Dayron Boada had the only goal for Mainland in the boys game. This is the junior’s first year playing for Mainland after he recently moved from Cuba. He has been playing for four years but has never played organized soccer. According to Mainland’s assistant coach Daniel Guastavino, he is currently one of the best players in the league right now. 

“I couldn’t believe it myself,” Guastavino said. “When he first showed up to practice, I was like where does this guy come from.”

Boada and his family moved to the United States for a better future. He said he chose Mainland because he has always wanted to play soccer with his cousin who will be an incoming freshman next year.

“I feel good about the goal,” Boada said in Spanish as Guastavino interpreted. “I’m happy about the goal but team comes first and I’m disappointed about the loss.”

Mainland boys head coach Danny Peralta has been coaching the varsity team for five years. He has been the school’s resource officer for seven years. He said his team is more cohesive this year because a lot of his seniors have been with him for four years.

“Coming from a team that doesn’t have a lot of club players that played, positioning and togetherness, it’s unheard of,” he said. “I’ve had street ball talent for years. When you try to put the team together, they don’t bump heads, the style of play bumps heads.”

This season, the Buccaneers started 4-0 which he said was “unheard of.” They are currently 4-7-2

“Of course, everybody wants that win,” he said. “I’m not focused on the win — I’m focused on the playing.”


 

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