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Tiger Sharks suffer first loss, bounce right back
An unbeaten season came to an abrupt halt last week, but by week’s end the Port St. Joe High School boys’ soccer team was back in the win column.
District 1-1A rival Franklin County halted the Tiger Sharks unbeaten streak at 11 games last Thursday with a 1-0 victory in Eastpoint, even though Port St. Joe doubled the Seahawks shots at 8-4.
The lone goal of the game came on a long-range blast that eluded first-year goalkeeper Walt Bowers, who made three saves on four Franklin County shots.
“With three starters missing we struggled to possess the ball at midfield and coordinate any offensive creativity or combination play,” said Port St. Joe coach Gary Hindley.
The loss dropped the Tiger Sharks to 10-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in district play.
The Port St. Joe boys responded to their first loss of the season by traveling to Freeport and putting on a scoring clinic in a 9-2 victory, a team-best offensive output for the season.
It was the final district match of the regular season with the district tournament coming next week and improved the Tiger Sharks to 11-1-1 and 4-1-1.
Senior midfielder Daniel May and freshman forward Marcel Duarte each had a hat trick, scoring three goals apiece. May has now scored 11 goals this season, Duarte’s 12 leads the team.
Also scoring for the Tiger Sharks were LaGrand McLemore, Cole Cryderman and Javarri Beachum.
Duarte, McLemore, Cryderman and Drew Lacour each had two assists; Daniel Jones and Dell Pickett one assist apiece. Port St. Joe outshot Freeport 30-5.
Bowers started in goal and saw 60 minutes of action, giving up one goal and making three saves, earning the win to improve to 8-1 for the season with a .587 goals against average.
The Tiger Sharks played at Baker on Monday and hosted Springfield Rutherford on Tuesday.
The boys play at Marianna tonight and travel to North Bay Haven Academy for the final regular season game on Saturday.
Lady Tiger Sharks
The Port St. Joe girls won one and tied the other last week to improve to 7-3-1 overall and finish 3-2-1 in district play.
The girls drew with Franklin County 2-2 last Thursday. Senior captain Rachel Jones converted a penalty kick in the 15th minute to score her ninth goal of the year and Christian Laine scored in the 49th minute as Port St. Joe bolted to a 2-0 lead.
Lexie McGhee assisted on Laine’s goal.
Franklin County scored twice in the final 30 minutes to knot the game at the final whistle.
Each team recorded 11 shots, with Port St. Joe keeper Shannon Pridgeon making five saves.
As with the boys, the Lady Tiger Sharks responded with a road win on Saturday, recording their fourth shutout of the season with a 4-0 win over Walton County.
McGhee, a sophomore forward, scored her fifth goal of the season and Laine added her fourth. Jones tallied her team-leading 10th of the year and junior captain Jaclyn Kerigan added her second. All goals were unassisted.
Pridgeon, a freshman, recorded her second shutout, needing to make just two saves.
The girls travel to Marianna tonight. Port St. Joe will face Freeport at North Bay Haven on Saturday.
The Lady Tiger Sharks are seeded second in the District 1-1A tournament, which begins next Tuesday at Franklin County.
The Lady Tiger Sharks face the third-seeded Lady Seahawks at 7 p.m. ET.
The winner of that game will be guaranteed a playoff spot and will face top-seeded Rocky Bayou in the championship game at 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 20.
