- April 19, 2024
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The Sandcrabs' Alauna Neely chases after the ball against Spruce Creek's Jordan Di Verniero. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Abby Gabriel tries to steal the ball from a Spruce Creek player. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Ericka Dane throws the ball in against the Hawks. Photo by Ray Boone
The Sandcrabs' Dayva Learned passes the ball to a teammate in the second half against the Hawks. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Gia Laoun kicks the ball away from a Spruce Creek player. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Alauna Neely steals the ball from Spruce Creek's Jordan Di Verniero. Photo by Ray Boone
Nearly 13 minutes into the game, Seabreeze midfielder Kaylee Haas ripped a shot toward Spruce Creek's freshman goalie, Elizabeth Greenberg. The ball barely missed the left post.
And with five minutes to spare in the first half, with the game still knotted at 0, the senior team captain put another shot on-goal. This time, the ball skipped over the hands of the diving keeper, but right before it could cross the goal line, a Spruce Creek defender dashed in to knock the ball out of bounds.
The Sandcrabs had their chance against the Hawks but couldn’t overcome miscues around the net and the scoring outburst from the Hawks’ leading goal-scorer, Jordan Di Verniero, in a 3-0 loss to Spruce Creek on the night of Tuesday, Dec. 19, at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.
“We don’t lose. We either win or we learn,” Seabreeze coach Kim Merkel said. “We are a skilled team. We should have had at least four goals tonight. It just didn’t happen for whatever reason. It just wasn’t our time.”
The game remained scoreless until Di Verniero scored on an assisted goal with 1.9 seconds left in the first half. Seabreeze (12-3) had several chances to get back into the game in the final period but had a tough time putting the ball past Greenberg.
“It was very frustrating,” Haas said of her team’s struggle to score. “As a senior, I felt like I should have been able to finish some of those. I felt like I let my team down a little bit.”
However, Haas said the Sandcrabs did make improvements from last year’s game, which the Hawks handily won 9-1. Seabreeze hasn’t beaten Spruce Creek since 2013.
“I think if anybody compared our game last year to this year’s game, we were not as timid this time,” Haas said. “We were actually connecting as a team. We’re looking to support our teammates in positions that they need instead of just not supporting them at all.”
Going forward, Haas said the bounce back will be easy. She said the team, regardless of age, has a lot of leaders eager to step up.
“We support each other really well,” she said. “We’ve just got to turn around and win throughout the rest of our district and focus on our main goal: states.”
