Overachieving Vikings fall in semifinals
TAMPA – After the sting of losing in the boys’ Class 3A soccer state semifinals wears off, reality sets in.
The Bishop Verot Vikings’ quest for back-to-back state championships ended Thursday at the University of Tampa’s Pepin Stadium with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Lake Highland Prep.
Even Vikings coach Tom McGlinn admits a second title was a stretch.
“We were not sure we could get this far,” said McGlinn. “We overachieved with a young team. Of our four losses, we did not lose to any team in Southwest Florida, so we can’t complain. We haven’t lost to a team in Southwest Florida in two years. We’re already talking about next year.”
The Vikings lost 13 seniors off last year’s Class 3A championship squad, leaving them with two starters – James Gibson and Andrew Palumbo – and a host of largely unproven players. This year seven seniors will depart.
Goalkeeper Brandon Doyle, a freshman, saved two of the four shots on goal he faced Thursday.
The Vikings (22-4) struggled to get into scoring position in the first 25 minutes, but started to make repeated attacks by the 26th minute, about the time they were awarded a penalty kick. Lake Highland Prep had converted a PK of their own in the ninth minute to take a 1-0 lead.
Palumbo, who had a team-high 38 goals during the season, buried the kick inside the left post to tie the game at 1-1.
“We had plenty of opportunities to score, but couldn’t get it done,” said McGlinn, reflecting on their 14-12 edge in shots overall (6-4 in shots on goal).
The Highlanders (19-6) forged ahead 2-1 in the 15th minute of the second half as senior Michael Rasmussen fired a shot from 20 yards out on the left wing to the far post. The shot hit the post and trickled across the goal line. Rasmussen, who only scored six goals during the season, also scored the Highlanders’ penalty kick in the first half.
“We generally sit back the first 20 minutes to settle our defense for later and to see how good our scouting report is on the other team,” said Highlander coach George Sasvari. “We don’t usually score goals that early in a game.”
Rasmussen’s second-half goal turned out to be the Highlanders’ only shot on goal in the closing 40 minutes.
The Vikings had three good scoring chances in the first four minutes of the second half – two by Chris Szabo and one by Palumbo. One was saved by the keeper, one went just over the crossbar and the last wide left. Three more chances came over the next nine minutes – two by Palumbo just cleared the bar and one by Szabo wound up in the keeper’s arms.
The Vikings weren’t done attacking. With seven minutes remaining, an indirect kick from 20 yards on the right wing was headed just wide of the goal.