An Antzoulatos storm

Girls soccer heads to 3A semifinals

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

Not only did senior Micaela Antzoulatos have a hat trick, but her sister Tina dished out a key assist on Micaela's third goal to help lead the Hurricanes to a storming 5-1 win in the regional quarterfinals over the visiting Braves.

With the win, Huntingtown (11-1-1 overall) advances to the regional semifinals and will host fourth-seeded Thomas Stone at 4:30 p.m. today. The Cougars nipped fifth-seeded La Plata 2-1 in another quarterfinal Tuesday.

"I just went for it and I'm proud to play for my and her [Tina] to help her win," said Antzoulatos on the sibling connection. "I wanted to win this for the whole team, so I put in the shots on goal. "We're so excited we could have a second chance to play Northern [for the regional final] and we've been trying to beat them since I've been a freshman, so beating Northern is our motivation throughout the playoffs. Tonight we came out 10 times more pumped than the regular season.

"If I can't finish then I like to help finish," said Tina Antzoulatos on helping her sister complete the hat track and finished with two assists on the night. "Any opportunity is a good opportunity and it's just special."

After Lauren Soper missed her first attempt in the 10th minute, due to an incredible save by Chopticon's Sandy Bynaker (six saves), the Huntingtown junior came back a minute later and lifted a shot to the back of the net from a Tina Antzoulatos' delivery to put the team up 1-0.

"In regards to how the girls played tonight, it seemed like everything just came together," Huntingtown head coach Rob Soper said. "We played aggressive and with the intensity that you need to play with in the playoffs. They met the challenge and teams like Chopticon you have to come out strong each half and that's what we did."

On his team's next opponent, Soper added: "Stone is tough. They work hard off the ball, athletic and have a couple skilled players, which presents match-up challenges."

After a foul was called inside the box Huntingtown was rewarded a penalty kick and Micaela Antzoulatos converted the attempt to give her squad the 2-nil lead at halftime.

In the first 11 minutes of the second half, Micaela Antzoulatos scored the next two goals to put the Hurricanes up 4-0.

ajmason@somdnews.com

Results

Huntingtown 5, Chopticon 1

Chopticon 0 1

Huntingtown 2 3

Goals: Chopticon (Eller), Huntingtown (M. Antzoulatos 3, Soper, Morton)

Saves: Chopticon (Bynaker 6, Peska 2); Huntingtown (Taylor 4, Whalen 3)