INDIAN ROCKS — Tampa Prep left little doubt it’s the team to catch in Class A-7 after a convincing 4-0 win Tuesday over Indian Rocks Christian. Shaddy Douidar scored two goals and had an assist and Michael Spezza added two goals to help the Terrapins remain undefeated in the district.
“We’ve got some great individual players but we’ve been focused lately on making sure they work together,” Tampa Prep coach Doug Smith said. “We were able to work together in the second half, and that was encouraging.”
It was more like the Douidar show in the first half. In the ninth minute, he made a run down the middle, carving through defenders before he broke open in the 18-yard box. IRC goalkeeper Shane Haas came out to defend Douidar, who made a move to the left about 8 yards in front of the goal.
Haas dove and tripped Douidar, setting up a penalty kick. Douidar nailed the shot into the right corner.
His second goal came in the 40th minute. After Gregg Suglia made a run at the goal and earned a corner kick, he passed to Douidar in the left corner of the 18-yard box. His blast beat a diving Haas and made it 2-0 at halftime.
Tampa Prep outshot IRC (5-4-1) 18-3.
“They play a lot of one-touch passing and move the ball very quickly,” said Golden Eagles coach Ben Futoran, whose team played its ninth game in 14 days. “They don’t give you time to set your defensive shape. And once they play the ball they are very explosive. They have a lot of individual skills.”
The Terrapins (11-1-1) stepped up the offense in the second half. After several near misses, Spezza found the net in the 67th minute. He settled a loose ball just outside the 18-yard box and took an uncontested right-footer that sailed into the right corner.
The final goal came in the 75th minute as Spezza scored again after sliding onto a perfect cross in front of the goal by Douidar.
“That’s a great team,” Futoran said. “It’s a joy to play them just to see the best of the best.”