from the Tampa tribune

After Newsome beat Bloomingdale for the Class 5A-District 8 title, midfielder Ana Cate admitted the Wolves had had Lakeland George Jenkins, the team that had defeated the them in the Class 5A region final last season, in the back of their minds all season.

Jenkins, ranked No.2 in the nation and No.1 in Florida in the ESPN Rise Fab 50, might appear there for the taking. A 1-0 win against Lake Howell in the region quarterfinals and a 3-2 win against Winter Haven in the semifinals would give that impression.

Cate isn’t having any part of that thinking, and gives great respect to the team standing between the Wolves and the final four.

“Their rivalry with Winter Haven is like our rivalry with Bloomingdale,” Cate said. “Whoever can come out on top in those rivalry games is usually the better team, and we’re keeping that in mind. Thinking that we beat Winter Haven 8-0, and they only beat them 3-2 doesn’t really mean a lot at this point. We’re both at the same place because we won the same amount of games.”

Newsome last went to the final four in 2007, its second trip overall, and with 11 seniors on this squad would like to make a third this season.

“All the seniors want to get a chance to go back and win it this time,” Morgan Sammons said. “It would be our school’s first state title, so we’re really ready to play.

“I feel like since Kendall [Graham] came back and our injuries healed up we’ve been playing together really well.”