Oct. 29, 2006
PENSACOLA, Fla. - Junior Brandi Adams (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze HS) scored in the 61st minute as top seed West Florida won their fourth Gulf South Conference championship with a 1-0 win over second seed Ouachita Baptist Sunday at Brosnaham Park. It was West Florida's first title since 1999. West Florida (15-2-2) won their 10th consecutive match. Ouachita Baptist (12-5-0) lost in the finals in their first GSC Tournament appearance.
"Ouachita made it very difficult for us," said head coach Joe Bartlinski. "We had to scramble with some last minute injuries, but I am proud of the kids for adjusting and grinding it out and taking control of the game."
West Florida dominated the first half with an 11-4 advantage in shots; however, the Argonauts were unable to score. The best scoring opportunity in the half was a shot by freshman Jodi Galucci (Stuart, Fla./South Fork HS) that deflected off the hand of Tiger goalkeeper Taylor Culberson and off the crossbar.
West Florida finally got on the scoreboard in the 61st minute. Senior Patricia Toledo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Cloud County CC) passed the ball to Adams, who was set at the top of the box. Adams took the pass and fired a shot into the upper left corner of the net. It was Adams third goal of the season and her first post season goal.
"We wanted to score earlier, but we created a lot of scoring opportunities," said Bartlinski. "I told them at halftime that if we keep creating opportunities, good things will happen."
West Florida posted their 14th shutout of the season, one shy of the 2003 team and conference record. The Argonauts defense limited the Tigers to only four shots, including none in the second half. Freshman Courtney Jones (Panama City, Fla./Bay HS) only needed to make one save for her 11th shutout of the season. Culbertson collected eight saves in the loss.
Sophomore Marcela Franco (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Visconde de Porto Seguro) was named the GSC Tournament Most Outstanding Player. She is the fourth Argonaut to earn most outstanding player honors (Jean Dutton-1996, Roni McGinnis-2000, Maria Mlynarski-2001 and Mauricia Nicholson-2003). Five other Argonauts earned GSC All-Tournament accolades: Nicholson, Toledo, Sheka Codner (Dover, Del./Ceasar Rodney HS), Audia Sullivan (Kingston, Jamaica/William Carey) and Lindsay Nemanich (Houston, Texas/Langham Creek HS). Six Ouachita Baptist players were also named to the GSC All-Tournament Team.
West Florida will advance to next weekend's NCAA Division II South Region Tournament. West Florida is currently ranked second in the region. The four teams and the site of the south region tournament will be announced at 5 p.m. EST on Monday.
"I am most proud that we are going to nationals for the fifth straight season," said Bartlinski. "We are not going just to be there. We want to play hard and get some good results."
