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East Lake Convincingly Grabs Tournament Championship

EAGLES 3, HURRICANES 0

Eric Horchy/SUNCOAST

East Lake coach Sergei Stopek celebrates winning the Palm Harbor Hurricane Watch Tournament with the first-place trophy and his players.

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: January 10, 2009

PALM HARBOR - Whenever Class 5A, District 9 rivals East Lake and Palm Harbor meet on the soccer field, the matches are typically tight, intensity is a given and the level of play is as good as it gets in the area.

The championship game of Palm Harbor's annual Hurricane Watch tournament was a rare exception on at least one front Friday night.

Red-hot East Lake made sure there was no question who would be walking away with the prized hardware by jumping out to an early 2-0 lead within the game's first four minutes en route to a 3-0 victory.

After Josh Gonzalez struck first for the Eagles (15-0-4) when he netted his own rebound during the second minute, Brett Hummel followed with a goal of his own shortly thereafter.

Hummel tacked on East Lake's third and final goal in the 28th minute by taking advantage of some apparent confusion between PHU goalkeeper Max Gallin and the Hurricane defense. Hummel waited deep in the goal box for the entrance of a free kick and just slightly headed a shot into the open net to put the Eagles on top 3-0.

Pressure from the East Lake attack was aggressive throughout virtually the entire first half. Free kicks from the Eagles were flying at PHU's defense all night long and multiple yellow-card infractions were assessed as East Lake began pulling away, underscoring the match's intensity and the Hurricanes' growing frustration.

"There were a couple times during the game where it got a little hot, but we kept ourselves in check," East Lake head coach Sergei Stopek said. "I'm very proud of them. I think they do a good job at that. They're high school students, so there's a line of emotion and then there's a line of professionalism. We're always trying to find that fine balance and I think they did very well to adjust to that."

The Hurricanes (16-4-3) saw some of their best scoring looks midway through and late in the second half. During extra time, PHU had three straight corner kicks to try and avoid the shutout but could not get anything passed the East Lake defense and goalkeeper David Kirkbride. Aside from the late-game barrage, Kirkbride was relatively comfortable most the night due in large part from solid defensive efforts from the likes of Ashton Popo and Matthew Kimball.

PHU backup goalkeeper Jeremy Paul relieved Gallin at the end of the first half and managed to keep the Eagles' offense at bay.

The win was also East Lake's first-ever Hurricane Watch championship title and Stopek said his players were highly motivated to get the trophy on their rival's home field. It also gave the Eagles a 2-0-2 advantage in head-to-head meetings with PHU.

"It doesn't really matter who it is, it's a championship game. We understand that the pace of a championship game is much faster, so we wanted to make sure that we're setting that pace and that we're setting that tone. We wanted it bad and I think it showed throughout the whole match."

The Eagles finished the tournament a perfect 3-0. During group play, East Lake defeated Countryside and Northeast to advance to Friday's championship match. PHU was 1-1-1 after tying Lakewood in its opening game and beating Mitchell Tuesday night.

In the night's earlier action, Countryside got past Mitchell 1-0 to take third place.

East Lake will take to the field again Thursday night against Osceola and wraps up its regular season schedule next Wednesday at Dixie Hollins. PHU plays its final regular season match Thursday night at home against Countryside.

EAST LAKE - 3 - 0 - 3
PALM HARBOR - 0 - 0 - 0

Eric Horchy can be reached at 727-815-1071 or ehorchy@suncoastnews.com

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