Pirates start sloppy, finish strong

BRADENTON — The Braden River girls soccer team has a knack for being worked up at the beginning of games. The girls are eager to score, and they fail to stick to their fundamentals such as passing the ball, talking to each other and making the proper kicks.

On Monday, the visiting Pirates started rocky against the Southeast Seminoles before breezing to a 5-0 victory on Senior Night at John Kiker Memorial Stadium.

“When our girls get settled down,” Braden River coach Kevin Bates said, “that’s when we start to score goals. They thought this would be easy in the beginning.”

A lack of shots on goal wasn’t Braden River’s reason for a sloppy start.

The Pirates fired the ball eight times at the Noles’ goalie in the first 40 minutes. However, it was somewhat of a fluke kick that snuck through the goalposts in the 12th minute.

Pirates forward Ashley Nelson “asked for a drop” from about 35 yards away, booted the ball and it flew over the goalie’s head into the twine.

That was Braden River’s only goal of the first half.

“We were just trying to get our passes together and make sure we shoot outside of the box more,” Nelson said.

Braden River (13-1-2) defeated Southeast 4-0 earlier this season.

The second half was much different.

In the span of 18 minutes the Pirates scored four goals.

Senior forward Nikki Gainey pushed Braden River’s lead to 2-0 as she slid under a Noles goalie to kick the ball through in the 50th minute. Eight minutes later, Jessica Price punched the ball into the net on a rebound, and Gainey scored again in the 65th minute.

Gainey and a Southeast defender were elbow-to-elbow running down the field fighting for the ball. She maneuvered the ball to her left with the defender draped on her right arm and kicked the ball from 25 yards away with her left foot.

Goal.

Taryn Gillette scored the final goal in the 68th minute.

Bates said quicker starts are important with district looming later this month.

“We’ve been working on our possession skills and pacing the game,” Bates said. “If we start out like that in districts we are going to have a rough time. We have to start out with a much faster pace to start the ball game.”

Southeast coach Shane Cline said he played five junior varsity players who were recently moved up, and fatigue played a factor in his team’s performance.

“We lost our legs,” Cline said of his team, which fell to 2-10-1. “They are a much more physical team than we are. They are very tall, very athletic. They beat us up the whole game.”