East Lake girls soccer squad earns title

By Rodney Page, Times Staff Writer

The Tampa Bay area, and especially north Pinellas County, has long been a power in club soccer. That held true last weekend at the Florida Youth Soccer Association's Florida State Cup tournament in Wellington.

The East Lake Arsenal and Clearwater Chargers under-13 girls teams advanced to the final. East Lake defeated Clearwater 2-1 to claim the championship.

The tournament started with 28 teams in group play on March 21 in Naples. Both area teams advanced to play in second-round games on April 4-5. Then came the round of 16 in Miami on April 18-19.

To get to the final, the Arsenal defeated West Pines United 2-1, the Chargers defeated FC America Soccer Club 1-0.

In the semifinal game, Debra Hahn and Morgan Ferrara scored. In the final, Hahn and Skye Barba each had a goal. The Arsenal is made up of Ferrara, Sarah Raymond, Hahn, Brianna Rossi, Danielle Gottwik, Shelby Stacy, Barba, Gina Davis, Mackenzie Geier, Maggie Amos, Rachel Taylor, Quinn Lombard and Alyssa Skryd.

In the girls under-15 group, the Palm Harbor Premier advanced to the semifinals, but lost 3-2 to Weston Fury FC. In the boys under-14 group, the Clearwater Chargers Red advanced to the semifinals, falling 1-0 to Weston Fury.