AUBURNDALE — For the second game in a row, the Auburndale boys soccer team had to come from behind in the second half, and that’s a habit the Bloodhounds would like to break.
Trailing 2-1 at the second-half water break, Auburndale scored twice in the final 14 minutes to defeat New Port Richey Mitchell, 3-2, in the Class 4A-2 boys soccer regional quarterfinals Wednesday night at Lake Myrtle Park.
“We need to stop doing that,” said Auburndale’s Ducarmel Jeannestin, who scored the game-winner with approximately one minute left in the game. “Some teams, if they’re winning 1-0, it’s going to be hard to come back, so we need to stop doing that.”
The Bloodhounds will now face Tampa Sickles Saturday night at Lake Myrtle Park in the semifinals. Sickles defeated Winter Haven 2-1 in overtime Wednesday night.
Jeannestin’s game winner in the closing minute came on a rebound off of Mitchell goalkeeper Chris Swanhart.
“The last 15 minutes, we just wanted to work hard,” Jeannestin said. “We just wanted to get back in the game because we were sloppy in the first half.”
Prior to that, Dante Lavigne had scored with just under 14 minutes left to tie the game, 2-2, on a crossing pass from Jeannestin.
“Right after the water break, I told our guys,, ‘This is it, guys.’ The last 15 or 20 minutes, I thought our guys really stepped up,” Auburndale coach Guy Jennings said.
Tristan Andre scored both of Mitchell’s goals, the first nine minutes into the match. Jeannestin tied it with three minutes left in the half, taking a pass from Noah Simms on a direct kick.
Andre’s second goal on a breakaway with 23 minutes to play put Mitchell back up 2-1.
“They’re very quick,” Jennnings said of Mitchell. “They’re as quick as any team we’ve played. We’re very fortunate we got out of it. Now we stand for another day.”
Sickles 2
Winter Haven 1
Winter Haven trailed 1-0 but Shaker Saleh scored with about 10 minutes left to play to force overtime. Sickles scored with about 20 seconds left in the double-overtime to prevent the match from going down to penaltie kicks.
“It was a good game,” Winter Haven coach Bill Desmond said. “We had opportunities.”
George Jenkins 1
Jupiter 0
In Class 5A, Region 2, George Jenkins controlled the play in the first half, but the game remained scoreless at halftime. George Jenkins junior Tyler Fine finally broke through in the second half with the game’s only goal to lift the Eagles to victory. Colton Eliasen had the assist on the goal.
"Team defense won this game," Jenkins coach Tanner Mosher said. "They played incredibly."
George Jenkins will play at Celebration on Saturday in the regional semifinals.