Rough Start No Problem For Cypress Creek Girls Soccer

By JOHN C. COTEY

One week into the season, the Cypress Creek High girls soccer team did not look like a team bound for the Class 5A State Final Four.

The senior keeper, Alex Capocy, was recovering from a concussion suffered in the preseason. Midfielder Giovana Laaber, the glue on the offense, was unavailable. A collection of talented players who train with various club teams in the offseason weren’t melding as one. And the Coyotes coach, Jessica Herzek, had missed some time with sinus surgery.

The result was a 1-2 start, with a 9-3 loss to East Lake serving as the exclamation point.

“Yeah, those first couple of games were rough,” said senior defender Abbie Pittman. “They were probably some of the hardest games we’ve played the past four years. (Coach) called us in and told us instead of practice, we were going to talk.”

Herzek’s message was simple: It’s time to turn things around — and quick.

“I think that they needed to believe again,” Herzek said. “I told them, ‘You are a Final Four team. But, if you keep acting like this, you will lose in the first round of Districts. Get your head in the game, or you will lose every game.”

Herzek was 100-percent right. Taking her words to heart — and buoyed by the return of Laaber and Capocy — the Coyotes went on a big-time run, eventually beating Wesley Chapel 4-1 for their first-ever District title, winning three straight Regional playoff games and mak- ing the team’s first-ever State semifinal. While Cypress Creek couldn’t overcome state powerhouse Plantation American Heritage, which went on to win its 12th State championship after dispatching the Coyotes 6-0 in the semifinals, the playoff experience did plant seeds for what could be an even better season next winter for the Coyotes, who finished this season with a 15-6 record.

“It was so much fun,” Herzek says. “It was so fun to see the look in their eyes when they realized just how good they were. In the playoffs, it is win or go home, you know, and I think that they played with a sense of ‘We don’t want to go home.’”

After that first-week stumble, the Coyotes rattled off nine straight wins — including 9-1 and 4-0 victories over local rivals Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch, respectively — and Capocy was brilliant in net, allowing only three goals. Capocy just kept getting better as the season went on.

“She just was a rock star in the playoffs,” Herzek said. “She had so many amazing shots. The (game) videos are just, I mean, it’s supernatural. She was like a super hero flying through the air on some of those saves.”

Defensively, the team was led by Pittman, who was named the Sunshine Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, as well as by Hannah Fulop and Capocy, all seniors.

“They will be tough to replace,” Herzek said. “But you have your wonderful scorers who are amazing and talented and you have your goalkeeper who gets those stats, but those girls in the middle sometimes don’t get those accolades and they work really hard. It was everyone on the team, and we have more talent coming.”

Offensively, the Coyotes were consistent all year, and brilliant when it mattered most. In the District playoffs, they scored 12 goals in two games. In three Regional playoff games, they scored three goals each game in wins over Lake Wales, Auburndale and Daytona Beach Seabreeze.

The 1-2-3 offensive punch of junior Allison Souers, junior Ashley Olds and sophomore Avery Blevins was too much for most teams. They combined for eight of the nine playoff goals. On the year, Souers had 30 goals, Olds had 22 and Blevins scored 12, with all three players adding 10 assists each.

Along with Laaber, who had six goals and four assists, the top four scorers will all return next year.

Herzek expects another sterling season, with the success this season providing the foundation for great things.

“We’ve never won District before, and we won,” she said. “They won District, they won Region, they won the Conference title. So, three titles in one year is just phenomenal. It was a fantastic year.”