THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210479
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REA FARMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The toughest opponent was the heat Monday evening in the Eastern Region girls soccer tournament at Salem.
The teams battled through the 90-degree heat in the quarterfinal doubleheader. In the opener, Southeastern District regular season and tournament champion Great Bridge downed Peninsula District runnerup Lafayette 2-0. In the second game, Beach regular-season champion Cox edged Eastern District runner-up Granby 3-1.
The searing heat caused coaches to constantly substitute players and the referees in both games elected to take ``heat breaks'' midway through each half.
Great Bridge (13-4) overcame the suffocating conditions with a goal by Valerie Renden seven minutes into the first half. Wildcats coach Harvey Regan said it was a crippling blow to a Lafayette team that had been controlling the game.
``It was such a hot day, whoever scored first had a big advantage,'' Regan said. ``We were lucky to get that first goal, Lafayette (11-4-1) controlled the first 20 to 30 minutes. It's hard to come back in this heat. If they had scored first, we wouldn't have been in a good position.''
Great Bridge put the game away with a goal off a corner kick early in the second half. KC Miller placed the kick in the box and Jessie Berdick grabbed a defender's deflection and sliced a shot into the goal.
Great Bridge advanced to Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Cox at Salem.
Granby (12-5-1) mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge against the Falcons (16-3). Comets goalkeeper Natalie Weatherburn posted 22 saves. Of the three goals she allowed, one was an own goal and one resulted from a penalty kick.
``I thought Cox was obviously outstanding,'' Granby coach Michael McStay said. ``Our goal was to come in here and play our best and leave with our heads up. We definitely achieved that.''
The Comets' swarming defense displaced the Falcons, throwing Cox off its normally intense offensive game. Joanna Hale blasted the opening goal early in the first half. Weatherburn grabbed a piece of it, but it slipped into the goal. Later in the half, a Granby defender deflected a Cox corner kick into the net. Comets Christina Sarvis answered with a scoring corner kick to close the gap to 2-1.
Late in the first half, Granby's Crystal Holland collided with Katie McDonald in the penalty box. Both players were shaken up and had to be escorted off the field. Robin Dwyer nailed the penalty kick.
``I don't think we played our game,'' Cox coach Terri Sawyer said. ``The girls seemed a little lethargic. They were shooting, it just seemed the ball wouldn't go in. They were taking the high percentage shots.'' by CNB