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 Canes drench Pirates
 Typically
a soccer playing field is referred to as a pitch. On Tuesday night at
Crystal River High School’s Earl Bramlett Stadium, it could simply be called
slop.
The messy playing conditions for the boys soccer match between the Citrus
Hurricanes and the Crystal River Pirates were thanks to the remnants of
Tropical Storm Ida, which passed through Citrus County during the late
afternoon hours.
By game-time the torrential rain had turned the field into a virtual mud
hole. Ironically enough, the adverse weather from the tropical storm had
little effect on the Hurricanes, who appeared to relish the poor playing
conditions as they drenched the Pirates 4-1 in both teams’ season-opener.
While Crystal River seemed flat and slow from the start, Citrus enjoyed
sloshing around the field and it even energized the Hurricanes, a fact not
lost on their head coach James Martone.
“Last week we played Crystal River in a preseason classic and needed a
miracle shot in literally the game’s final second just to tie them. Tonight
we came out fired up and ready to play,” Martone explained. “The kids were
ready for this. And it’s funny but it did seem like they enjoyed playing in
these conditions. I don’t know how they even walked out there tonight, let
alone ran. But they did.”
In fact the Hurricanes so enjoyed the mud bowl that they were in no hurry to
leave. After the two teams had shaken hands following the game’s end,
several Citrus players took to sliding around in the slop at midfield. They
then carried their party to a huge puddle behind the visitor’s goal, which
they transformed into a swimming hole.
“I can’t take anything away from Citrus. They played very well tonight. I
hope they go on to have a great season this year,” Crystal River head coach
Mike Callaway said. “We just didn’t play with the intensity that we’re
capable of tonight but we’ll be fine. I’m not making any excuses about the
conditions because they had to play in them too, but it was definitely
miserable out there. They adjusted to it better than we did. It was that
simple.”
As for the game itself Citrus jumped out to a
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