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Palm Harbor Girls Take 5A-9 Title

PHU 4, East Lake 1

Eric Horchy/SUNCOAST NEWS

From left to right, the Palm Harbor starting midfield: Molly Stack, Shannon Healy and Ashlin Cook. Stack led with two goals and Healy assisted on three.

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: January 22, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS - TARPON SPRINGS - For thirty-eight minutes of the Class 5A, District 9 championship game, top-seeded Palm Harbor University applied heavy pressure to the East Lake defense, sending wave after wave of attacks. Clearly, the Hurricanes were controlling nearly every aspect of the game.

The exhaustive initial efforts – outshooting East Lake 15-1 in those 38 minutes – paid off in the form a 1-0 deficit two minutes before halftime.

Not exactly the desired results, thanks in large part to the remarkable play of Eagles goalkeeper Ali Burnham.

The senior net minder played flawlessly while being assaulted with shots from all angles; blocking 12 of those 15 early Palm Harbor attempts.

Despite Burnham's impressive efforts – and even despite East Lake jumping out to the 1-0 lead with Leah Fisher's tie breaking goal on the Eagles' second of two first half shots – the sense of an imminent Hurricane offensive explosion was undeniable.

"We played a great first half," Palm Harbor head coach John Planamenta said afterwards. "We played with great intensity, which is usually a big difference, but we just couldn't finish."

Right at the two-minute mark, Palm Harbor forward Queli Ornelas made sure to change all that. The Hurricanes' sixteenth overall shot was definitely a sweet one.

Once again pressuring in the East Lake goal box, Ornelas dove to her left for a header that snuck by Burnham to tie the game and also lift her team's spirits.

From that point on the Hurricanes made certain the scoreboard reflected the efforts exerted on the field.

Of their five second-half shots, Palm Harbor (16-1-2) cashed in on three en route to a 4-1 victory.

Palm Harbor out shot the Eagles 21-5 overall.

Sophomore Colleen Lynch gave the Hurricanes their first lead 10:30 into the last half while converting a corner kick from Shannon Healy.

Senior midfielder Molly Stack then iced the game by scoring the final two Palm Harbor goals – both also off assists from Healy.

The first of Stack's scores was the game's most impressive, or at least it's strongest. Roughly twenty yards out from the right side of the box, Stack unloaded a booming right-footed kick that sailed over the outstretched arms of Burnham and cruised into the net's far, upper corner.

The win now awards Palm Harbor home field advantage for the start of the state playoff series, which begins Thursday against Plant High.

East Lake is relegated to traveling that same night to take on the District 5A-10 champion Hillsborough High Terriers.

"It's nice that we'll have the first home game, that's big," Planamenta said. "It's great to get the championship for the girls, of course, but we stressed that they need to get the home game."

Both matches will be played at 7 p.m.

Be sure to check www.suncoastnews.com for further North Pinellas playoff soccer coverage throughout the state tournament.

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