TAVARES – Bishop Kenny and Stanton both competed in the 23rd Annual Mike Stone Hickory Point Boys Soccer Invitational at Tavares over the weekend and both came away with top five finishes.
The 16 team tournament featured teams from Cape Coral Mariner, Bishop Moore, Seffner Christian, Lake Nona, Haines City, Orlando Evans, Leesburg, Spruce Creek, Ocala Forest, Orlando Dr. Phillips, Titusville, Satellite, Apopka, Kissimmee Osceola, Stanton and Bishop Kenny.
Final bracket pic.twitter.com/DMw1Xy0ffN
— MikeStoneInvtational (@_HickoryPtINVTL) December 29, 2018
On the last day of the tournament, the tourney switches from a traditional format to a more unorthodox format, by awarding trophies to the best overall records in the tourney rather than how they fare in the actual final, semifinals, third place and fifth place games. By virtue having both 3-1 records, both Bishop Kenny and Stanton were given fourth and fifth place trophies.
Evans won the title with a 1-0 win over Mariner in the title game, while Bishop Moore finished third with a 5-2 win over Dr. Phillips in the third place game.
Stanton (7-5-3), coached by Steve Stone, came into the tournament having lost three in a row along with a scoreless tie with Atlantic Coast in its last match before the tourney, but left the tourney with a lot of confidence having gone 3-1 against some of the top teams from around the state.
The Blue Devils were derailed 3-1 to eventual tourney winner Orlando Evans in their opener on Thursday, but rebounded to win three in a row to bring home the fifth place trophy after a 6-1 win over Leesburg and a 5-0 win over Haines City both on Friday and a 2-1 win over Satellite on Saturday thanks to a set piece goal from Zach O’Brien and a goal from Greg Jones.
Bishop Kenny (6-6), coached by Matthew Case, opened the tourney with a 4-0 win Thursday over Ocala Forest thanks to goals from sophomore Sean Meisler, junior Alex McAninley, junior Jack Wilkinson and senior Majed Hassan.
The Crusaders fell into the losers bracket after a 1-0 loss to Orlando Dr. Phillips in the early game Friday before rebounding to win the nightcap 4-1 over Titusville on a hat trick from McAninley and a goal from Meisler.
In the final game of the tourney, the Crusaders stunned two-time defending tournament champion Spruce Creek 1-0, thanks to a goal from Meisler to capture fourth place.
McAninley came into the tournament having only scored 5 goals in 9 games, yet nearly doubled his goal total with 4 goals in four games to now lead the Crusaders with nine goals in 12 games.
Meisler, who scored in three of the four games, was named to the all-tournament team after the conclusion of the tournament Saturday and is now second on the team with eight goals scored in 10 games.
Bishop Kenny returns to the pitch January 4-5 in Tampa competing against Berkeley Prep and Tampa Catholic in a pair of non-district contests.
While Stanton travels to Creekside (10-1) in a non-district match in its next game, before traveling to Baker County Jan. 12 in a District 3-3A make up game.
Both Stanton and Bishop Kenny are hoping the success they had at the Mike Stone Invitational will help spring board them as the back half of the schedule winds down and teams make that final playoff push.
