Tritons ride big second half to top Seahawks, 6-0, in soccer regional
The Mariner Tritons girls soccer team advanced in the FHSAA State Tournament with a convincing win over Cape Coral Tuesday evening at Tony McKenna Stadium.
The No. 2 seed Tritons (18-3) exploded for six second-half goals to take down the young No. 7 Seahawks (10-12-3) to advance to a 5A Regional Semifinal.
Of advancing, Mariner head coach Jami Hagy said, “It’s great. To come out here, you have played these teams before, but you know they’re going to play hard because it’s the playoffs. The first half, we struggled a little bit, but in the second half, they came out and started executing.”
A scoreless first half saw Mariner possess the ball the majority of the 40 minutes with some unlucky bounces. The Tritons hit two crossbars, had a goal called back on an offsides call and failed to finish a few other chances, with Cape Coral holding its own.
“They’re trying hard, and it just wasn’t falling that period,” Hagy said of her team’s first half performance. “You could see the girls were possessing the ball, moving off the ball, doing everything they needed to. It’s just soccer, and sometimes you’re not meant to score.”
It didn’t take long for the Tritons to find the back of the net in the second half, as the levy was broken just three minutes in.
Junior Caroline Orth received a pass down the right sideline in space, lined up her shot and struck it by the Seahawks keeper.
Just three minutes later, some quick action by Kelsi Longabardi and Kamila Pena added another Triton goal. Mariner was awarded a corner kick, and Pena quickly passed it out to Longabardi, who one-touch passed it back to Pena. Pena worked through a Seahawks defender, finding herself all alone, and dribbled just inside the corner of the box and fired a shot off of her left boot into the top of the net.
Five minutes later, Orth recorded her second of the match, and in minute 55, Pena scored the highlight of the night.
From about 30 yards out, Pena, a junior, settled the ball and lined up a deep shot, which sailed over the keeper’s head and touched the twine for her second of the match.
Mariner did not take its foot off the gas, as one minute later, a corner kick settled at the feet of Kailey Schwandner, who redirected a shot towards net and over the goal line. Schwandner added the sixth and final Triton goal of the match in the 62nd minute, tapping home a beautiful cross to finish the scoring chance.
As for what changed in the second half, Hagy gave credit to assistant coach Erwin Quintanilla, who suggested a tactical change for the Tritons.
“We decided to switch (formations),” Hagy said. “He’s been with me for six years, and it’s just great to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Our coaching staff is great, and yeah, he made that change.”
Of Orth’s play, Hagy said, “All year she’s been great for us. I can put her basically anywhere on the field, and she opened it up.”
Hagy also praised Schwandner for the energy she brought to the team in the second half, and senior defender Olivia Hinote’s play in the back.
As for Pena’s two goals, Hagy said, “Those long balls are awesome. She’s been successful with those all year.”
Seahawks head coach Dan Gross said he was pleased with the way his team battled, especially holding the Tritons scoreless in the first half.
“I’m proud of our girls,” he said. “We’re an extremely young team. We’re mostly a team of ninth and 10th graders. This was a rebuilding year, but our goal was to make regionals. Unfortunately we went up against a tough historical opponent, (but we) played really well in the first half. We’re a little banged up and sick, we just got tired at the end, but I’m proud of how they played.”
Gross said he’s very encouraged with the steps his program took this season, and is looking forward to the future of the Cape Coral girls soccer program.
“Our goal was to get better as the season went along, and we played our best soccer at the end of the year,” he said. “We’ll look to build on that in the future as we’ll bring most of the team back.
The Tritons will now face No. 3 Braden River (13-0-5) Friday night at home at 7 p.m. in a regional semifinal.
“We’re injured right now, and we’re just going to have to keep playing as a team,” Hagy said. “Players need to step up, and everybody has a role. If everybody plays their role, we’ll get through to the next round. It’s one game at a time right now.”