Toad kickers head to division finals
By Misty Volaski

Thacher's boys' soccer squad has one huge advantage: their degree of fitness. Many teams often are tired by the fourth quarter; however, Thacher's not one of those teams. The Toads' main strength is, well, their strength.

In Tuesday's CIF Division VI semifinal game against Carpinteria, Thacher came out onto the field with the determination to beat a notoriously physical, even violent, Warrior team.

Carpinteria was down seven players, due to the fact that, during an earlier game against La Verne Lutheran, a fight erupted on the field, sending several Carpinteria players to the bench, a few more off the field for good, and another Warrior to jail on alleged assault. Whether or not that gave Thacher an advantage was questionable.

"They still had several good players," said Thacher head coach Fed Coleman. "Carpinteria's a big school. They have so many good players there. The kid that replaced their sweeper was awesome."
The Warriors were fortunate that their preferred type of play, kicking long balls out to the forwards, worked very well with the wet fields.

Coleman said his team, which is a more technical squad, was "taken out of their game" a bit, but eventually started controlling the ball more in the second half to tie the score.

Thacher's Ward Sorrick started off the game with a goal in the seventh minute, but Carpinteria rebounded, scoring the next two goals and putting them ahead of the game. Then, in the second half, Tyler Caldwell scored off a corner kick by teammate Charlie Munzig, tying the score, 2-2.
But it was Owili Eison who was Thacher's hero that day, scoring the final winning goal in the sudden death overtime.

Thacher won, 3-2, which makes the squad a contender in the CIF Division VI finals tomorrow.
They will play St. Margaret's, seeded No. 1 in Division VI, at La Mirada High School at 1 p.m.
The team has been seeded first all season, except for one week when Thacher claimed first.
Thacher would have stayed there, if not for a 0-0 tie against Cate, which dropped them down to the third seed.

"It's basically the team that comes in with a good technical game combined with fitness and heart and maybe a little luck that's gonna win," Coleman said. "On paper, they're (St. Margaret's) the favorites. But not big favorites."
The following are basic stats on each team:

St. Margaret's
· Seeded No. 1 in Division VI.
· Won first place in the Academy L:eague.
· Beat Cavalry Chapel, 5-0, in round one of CIF Division VI.
· Beat Aquinas, 3-0, in round two.
· Beat Windward, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.
· Beat Ontario Christian, 2-1, in the semifinals.

The Thacher School:
· Seeded No. 3 in Division VI.
· No.1 Condor League
· Beat Rosamond, 5-0, in the first round.
· Beat Loma Linda Academy, 7-1, in the second round.
· Beat Oak Park, 2-0, in the quarterfinals.
·Beat Carpinteria, 3-2 in overtime, in the semifinals.
© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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