Hillsborough girls soccer preview

Hillsborough girls soccer preview

Bryane Heaberlin obviously couldn’t be in two places at once, but her Berkeley Prep teammates needed her for their Class 3A region semifinal game against St. Petersburg Catholic last season.   ¶   Heaberlin, the Bucs’ then-freshman goalkeeper, was in Miami for a U.S. Soccer U-17 supercamp. She flew home from South Florida for just a few hours to take the net for Berkeley. She helped win the game then flew back to Miami for morning workouts.   ¶   But Heaberlin, who at age 14 helped Berkeley to the Class 3A region final last year, likes being under pressure. She has played in the Olympic Development Program since she was 11. She is the only 15-year-old on the U.S. women’s national U-17 team, a squad focused on next year’s U-17 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I like having the pressure of having the game on your shoulders,” said Heaberlin, a St. Petersburg resident. “That’s why I’ve always liked being a keeper.”
And this season as a sophomore, Heaberlin is one of the main reasons the Buccaneers have legitimate hopes for a state title. Fourteen of 18 players from last year’s team return, including leading scorers Taylor Richardson, Taylor Batye and Samantha Newhaller.
“Having her makes us much more comfortable, like if a ball gets by the defense, we know we’re okay,” said Richardson, a Berkeley junior fullback and club ball teammate of Heaberlin’s with the Clearwater Chargers. “When PKs come along, it’s just like, 'Okay, Bryane’s got it.’ ”
This year, the Bucs, who finished last season 19-4-2, will have several early tests against the likes of Orlando powers Lake Highland Prep and Bishop Moore as well as defending 3A champ Plantation American Heritage and Boca Raton St. Andrews, the latter of which ended Berkeley’s 2008-09 season. more