Halftime adjustments enabled No. 2-seeded Mariner to shake free in a physical contest with No. 7 seed North Fort Myers Monday night and register a 7-1 victory in the first round of the District 3A-11 Tournament at Tony McKenna Field.
The first half was filled with numerous fouls and sloppy ball possession with the Tritons taking a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. The Tritons' adjustments allowed them to tack on five unanswered goals in the second half to win easily.
The win sends the Tritons (20-3-3) to the semifinal round Wednesday where they meet South Fort Myers in the opening game at 5:30 p.m. South advanced with a 6-0 shellacking of Island Coast.
Cypress Lake dumped Lemon Bay 2-1 in overtime to advance to the other semifinal match against No. 1 seed Cape Coral at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Travis Pacheco scored four goals to lead the Tritons while Tim Thomas, Gerald Mena and Patrick Kibler added one apiece. Goalkeeper Jacob Olmstead made four saves over 60 minutes with Alex Trujillo finishing it out with one save.
"Ethan Fletcher came in and did a good job on defense for 15 or 20 minutes tonight," said Tritons coach Martin Cardenas. "He helped maintain possession of the ball."
Ida Baker 2, Fort Myers 1: Fort Myers scored first, but Ida Baker retaliated with a pair of first-half scores to knock the Green Wave out of the District 4A-12 Tournament Monday night.
Winston Marin tied the game and Jordan Pinto got the game-winning goal for the Bulldogs, who advance to the district semifinals Tuesday at Gulf Coast, the No. 1 seed. Palmetto Ridge takes on No. 2 seed Barron Collier in the other semifinal match with the winners meeting Friday for the championship.
Marlon Herrera and George Kucera each had one assist with goalkeeper Rush Manterola standing strong in the net against the Green Wave through the second half, including one huge save with five minutes remaining.
"We had numerous chances to score, but just couldn't find the net," said Bulldogs coach Justin Aulls.
Girls Basketball
DeSoto County 37, Island Coast 33: A slow start that kept Island Coast in single digits scoring for the first half was too much to overcome in a loss Monday at DeSoto County.
Freshman Leanne Ellis and Caroline Ortiz scored 13 points apiece with three three-point goals each to lead the Gators (9-14). Tamara Riley had 14 points and 20 rebounds to lead DeSoto.
"We struggled in the first half and were down 19-6," said Gators coach Jerry Ellis. "We tied it a couple of times down the stretch, but that Riley killed us."
The Gators host East Lee County Tuesday and finish up the regular season Friday at North Fort Myers.
Girls Soccer
Region 1A-3: District champion Evangelical Christian (14-2-2) hosts First Baptist Academy Tuesday night in the regional quarterfinals looking to extend their season deep into the state playoffs.
Cape Coral resident Maggie Bradford scored three goals in the Sentinels' 10-3 rout of Canterbury in the district championship game and establish a new school career scoring record. Friday's goals boost Bradford's total to 111 over five seasons of varsity play.
Bradford scored seven goals as an 8th grader on the Sentinels varsity in 2007-08. Her contributions each year since are 20, 18, 40 and 26 goals. The Sentinels won at least 16 games in each of her five seasons in the program.
Football
Oasis athletic director Jason Bowman has stepped down as football coach at the same time making the announcement the Sharks will be joining the FHSAA in traditional 11-man football next fall.
Bowman also hired former NFL linebacker Jeff Brady to be the Sharks' new football coach. Brady, who moved to Southwest Florida several years ago and once was an assistant football coach at Bishop Verot, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and retired nine years later with the Indianapolis Colts.
Brady moved to the Tampa area and worked with the Pop Warner Football program before coming to Southwest Florida. Brady's son will be a sophomore on the Sharks football team next fall.
"We met with eighth-graders and high school kids last week about the program," said Bowman. "There were 82 kids attending the meeting, which is more than double the number we've had in the program."
