Teams reach region soccer semifinals
Roosevelt boys slip past Laurel, Roosevelt girls to face Parkdale
In a 4A South Region quarterfinal match slowed by sloppy field conditions, the Eleanor Roosevelt High School boys' soccer team edged Laurel, 2-0, Tuesday afternoon in Greenbelt.
Roosevelt coach George Kallas said his team barely overcame a muddy turf, nagging injuries and sluggish play to move on to the regional semifinals, where the Raiders will visit second-seeded High Point (11-2) at
4 p.m. today.
Bowie will visit Bladensburg in the other 4A South semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday.
"I hope the fields dry out and make it a fair game," Kallas said. "We did enough to be successful [on Tuesday]. To the credit of Laurel, they came out fired up, and for a while, we got sluggish and didn't play well. It's very hard in these muddy conditions to judge the ball. It looked like they were playing on ice out there."
Third-seeded Roosevelt (12-3) went ahead 16 minutes into the first half, as senior midfielder Michael Beard headed in a corner kick past Laurel goalie Denys Rivera. Eight minutes into the second half, the ball bounced off the back of a Laurel defender's head and into the Spartans' net for an own goal, putting Roosevelt ahead, 2-0.
Laurel coach Eric Ferguson said "it was just one of those freaky-type goals."
Ferguson said an adjustment from a 4-1-4 to a 3-5-2 formation allowed his team to generate more scoring chances in the second half, but the Spartans failed to capitalize.
Roosevelt moves on to face a High Point team fresh off a 9-0 win over Henry A. Wise on Tuesday. Senior forward Eric Medrano scored four times, Siwapun Phumiphuk added two goals and Edwin Claros, Chris Vargas and Daniel Bonilla each had one goal in the win.
High Point beat Roosevelt, 2-0, during the regular season, but Eagles' coach Michael Holt said he knows the rematch won't be easy.
"It's the playoffs, it's a new ballgame, you can't take anything for granted and go in overconfident," Holt said. "Roosevelt is not a pushover. They're a tough team."
4A South girls
Parkdale got two goals from Karen Salmeron to upset third-seeded Charles H. Flowers, 2-1, in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday.
The Panthers broke a 1-1 tie with 15 minutes remaining when Salmeron scored her second goal of the day. Parkdale withstood a late Jaguars' surge to notch its fourth consecutive win and the right to face Roosevelt in the region semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday at Roosevelt. The Raiders defeated Northwestern, 5-0, on Tuesday.
"Basically we got both of our goals the same way," said Parkdale coach Malka Ostchega. "Zulia [Menjivar] fed the ball to Lulu [Lurona Alexander], who passed it to Karen and she was able to score. The girls are really playing well. Lesley Rosalez has played really well in goal. I'm looking forward to playing Roosevelt. Anytime you get a chance to play Roosevelt in the region semifinals, it's something to look forward to."
Top-seeded Bowie will play host to Henry A. Wise in the other 4A South girls' semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday. Bowie shut out Oxon Hill, 4-0, on Tuesday.
Wise blanked Bladensburg, 8-0, behind four goals and an assist from Tracee Morgan and three goals and three assists from Christen Blair. Lauren Robertson had a goal and an assist.