PrepZone: Class 4A-12 girls soccer tournament more up for grabs than usual

NAPLES — The Barron Collier girls soccer team has won five straight district championships. A sixth straight title, however, might be the toughest to earn during the Cougars' run of dominance.

Barron Collier enters this week's Class 4A-District 12 tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Cougars (13-3-3) just need to get past two losing teams in the first two rounds to get to the district championship game, but will have their work cut out for them if they get to the final.

■ District tournament pairings

If all goes according to seedings, Lely and Naples High will face off in the semifinals. The Trojans (13-3-3) are having the program's best season and already battled Barron Collier to a tie in the regular season. Naples handed the Cougars one of their three losses by beating rival Barron Collier 3-2 on Friday.

“We're getting ready for one of the tightest district (tournaments) in six years,” Barron Collier coach Ray Morgan said.

Two other high ranked teams have hopes of getting to their district championship games. Gulf Coast is the top seed in 5A-10, while Community School is No. 1 in 2A-11.

With one of its best records in the program's long history, Lely is taking aim at its first district championship. The Trojans have only qualified for the regional playoffs once by finishing runner-up in 4A-12 in 2006.

The top two teams from each district advances to the regional tournament. A victory in the district semifinals assures a trip to regionals no matter how a team fares in the district championship.

The Trojans' key to getting to the championship match, according to coach Mark Lopez, is a fast start. In the beginning of the season, it took Lely most of the first half to get going, Lopez said, but his team has improved late in the year.

“The first few games we came out soft,” Lopez said. “The last few games, we've been playing well from the start. The biggest thing is that they come out aggressive.”

Naples has played in five straight district championship games. The Golden Eagles won the 4A-12 title in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and were runners-up last year and in 2007.

This year has been a struggle for the Eagles, though, after losing a large core of experienced seniors from a year ago. Though Naples (7-9) enters the district with a losing record, the team has won three in a row, including Friday's upset of Barron Collier.

“We're playing hard every single minute of every single game,” Eagles coach Frank Frostino said. “Hopefully the momentum we got Friday will carry us forward.”

After narrowly missing out on qualifying for regionals last year, Gulf Coast is having another strong season. The Sharks are 12-2-3 and need just a victory Tuesday to get to the 5A-10 final.

Gulf Coast faces Bradenton-Manatee, which it beat 1-0 in the regular season. The Sharks lost to Manatee in last year's 5A-10 semifinals in double overtime. A victory this postseason would guarantee Gulf Coast its first regional berth since 2006.

Community School (14-2-2) is looking for its third straight trip to regionals. The Seahawks, runners-up in the district the past two seasons, host First Baptist on Tuesday in the 2A-11 quarterfinals.