By Jeff Odom
Three years of frustration for the Steinbrenner boys soccer team came down to a penalty shot in the 64th minute of the Class 4A-District 8 final Jan. 26.
With the game tied 1-1, senior midfielder Enrique Barboto took two steps and belted the ball as hard as he could at Sickles goalkeeper Ryan Cooper, who dove to his left for the save that dashed the Warriors’ (15-2-3) chance at their first district championship.
The top-seeded Gryphons (11-1-3) marched down the field and headed in what would be the winning goal on their ensuing possession to take the contest 2-1.
It was the third time in the program’s four-year history that the No. 2 seed Steinbrenner has made it to the finals, only to come up short again.
With his eyes red and filling with tears, a sweatshirt draped around his head, Barboto walked off the field in silence as a mass of green and white celebrated behind him.
“We couldn’t finish our chances, and I don’t know,” Barboto said. “I couldn’t finish mine. I let us down.”
Warriors Chad Ebright walked out onto the field to console his players after the game. Some were lying face down on the field in disbelief.
“We didn’t finish it,” Ebright said. “They finished the opportunities they had, and we did not. That was the difference in the game.”
The Warriors controlled the pace offensively by keeping the ball in the Sickles zone for most of the night and peppering the goal with 17 shots.
Derek Gebhard sent a shot skipping past an empty net just two minutes into the contest, Jason Collister overran what would have been a one-time goal in the 19th minute and Cody Lively hit the cross bar less than a minute later.
“I can’t really explain what it was,” said Gebhard, a senior forward. “I just couldn’t connect with my kicks, and my shots, they weren’t going for me. I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Steinbrenner goalkeeper Christian Knight was the difference maker in the first 40 minutes, making seven saves.
The junior, who returned to the team for the district tournament after serving a six-week suspension from the Florida High School Athletic Association, made his best save in the first half when a free kick scuffed the tips of his fingers and sailed over the goal to keep the game scoreless.
“I thought we were going to come out and have this spark to really beat them bad, because we had been talking about the mistakes we made in the past,” Knight said. “I really just thought we were going to pull through and learn from all of our mistakes, but I guess tonight we just didn’t pull through.”
Ebright fired up his team at halftime, telling his 21 players they had to find the net quickly to stay in control of the game.
His team responded on a corner kick taken by freshman midfielder Michael Connell in the 44th minute. Collister emerged from the pack and headed in the Warriors’ only goal of the night to take a 1-0 lead.
The joy wouldn’t last long though as Sickles forward Scott Mulroe headed in a free kick less than a minute later to tie the game and squandered any momentum Steinbrenner had gained.
“We really didn’t get any good shots on our feet; it was all on our heads,” said Gryphons coach Carl May. “Steinbrenner’s an amazing team, and I told my guys if they play well against Steinbrenner, that’s as good as it gets.”
Warriors ended Gaither’s streak of five consecutive playoff trips in the semifinals with a 5-0 win.
The Cowboys (7-7-1) couldn’t hang with Steinbrenner’s offense as Collister and Gebhard each scored two goals and Austin Labban had one.
In the other semifinal, Wiregrass Ranch lost to Sickles 2-1 in penalty kicks 4-3. Mitchell Oliveri scored the lone goal for the Bulls (15-8-1).
The Warriors travel to Haines City Ridge Community Jan. 30 in regional quarterfinals. A victory would send them to the winner of the Sickles-Eagle Lake Lake Region contest on Feb. 2.
Regional games start at 7 p.m.
