By Kyle LoJacono
The Steinbrenner boys and girls soccer teams handled Freedom at home Nov. 14 in their Class 4A-District 8 opener.
The Warriors boys (5-0) won 6-1, while the girls (3-4) picked up a 7-1 victory.
The win was especially big for the girls, who had dropped their last three games before the Patriots (1-4-2) matchup, all by 2-1 scores to Newsome, Plant and Wharton.
“The girls had their heads down after the few losses that we had, but this brought our confidence back up, and we’re ready to go out and get more wins,” said junior midfielder Dani Eule.
Steinbrenner went with three forwards instead of its normal two to try and get quicker production after giving up the first goal in all but one of its games this year.
“All we talked to them about was that we have to have the first goal of this game,” said first-year Warriors coach Angela Gillisse. She added, “Some of our attacking players needed that feeling because they haven’t had a goal in a few games.”
Steinbrenner got on the board in the 10th minute when a cross from Kirsten Russel was buried home by Danielle Darius. The freshman forward found the back of the net less than 30 seconds later for her first multi-goal game in high school.
“It was great,” Darius said. “Using the 4-3-3 formation really helped. We’ve been starting slow, but today we really jumped out fast.”
Eule said it was good to see Darius get a couple of tallies because the players see her goal-scoring ability in practice.
“She’s really helped us out,” said Eule, who finished with two goals and two assists. “I think she was timid at first. It’s hard coming into high school as a freshman, but she really broke out in the Plant game and ever since then she’s attacking and being more aggressive.”
Gillisse said the 4-3-3 formation is something that fits the personnel right now because they are down three starting defenders because of injury: Miranda Gonzalez, torn hamstring; Kelsey Huntzinger, pulled quadriceps; Nicole Hollifield, torn ACL.
“We have the girls who like to get forward and we have the speed up top,” Gillisse said. “Once we get some healthy players back in our back four I think that will really solidify the lineup.”
Steinbrenner scored two more times before halftime, the first from Jessica Taylor in the 17th minute followed by Eule heading home a corner kick taken by Alexis Bredeau in the 19th.
Taylor and Eule each added another goal after halftime, while Bredeau netted her team-leading ninth tally of the year.
Freedom goalkeeper Jackie Vaughan recorded 13 saves in the contest.
The only blemishes for the Warriors was a goal by Dana Jones with about 10 minutes left in the game and being called offside 14 times.
“Smarter play, and the ones who were getting called off were the younger ones,” Gillisse said. “My freshmen were getting called off all night. They just see the ball and they don’t see anything else.”
The boys took the opposite approach from the girls, falling behind the Patriots (1-5) when Daneill Thorpe scored in the sixth minute.
Freedom, which was without starting goalkeeper Nate Brown, maintained the lead until Jason Collister one-timed a corner kick from Logan Siben in the final minute before halftime.
“There was nobody guarding the front post, and at practice we always talk about getting someone to attack that front post,” Collister said. “I did and just put it in. … It gave us momentum.”
Steinbrenner coach Chad Ebright said the work wasn’t being put in by his squad for much of the first half.
“We weren’t putting out the effort that Freedom was, and it showed up in the way we played,” Ebright said. “It wasn’t until things started getting a little rough near the end of the first half that the boys woke up. We weren’t doing anything technically wrong. We just weren’t playing hard enough.”
The Warriors came out firing in the second, picking up goals by midfielder Austin Labban in the sixth and seventh minutes. The first tally came off a cross from Michael Connell and the second on a penalty kick.
“We all knew that we were playing like crap in the first half,” Labban said. “We had to come back fast in the second half.”
Labban found the back of the net again with about 15 minutes left in the game for his first career hat trick, followed by goals from Enrique Barboto and another from Collister.
Steinbrenner hosts Robinson Nov. 30, while Freedom play district rival Wiregrass Ranch at home Nov. 27. Games start at 6 p.m.
—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker
