Girls prep soccer | Coin toss decides seeding fate for Manatee and Lakewood Ranch

MANATEE -- They had identical head-to-head records. They had the same win-loss district record, the same number of district victories on the road and the same number of district victories at home.

So the Florida High School Athletic Association's soccer manual states a coin toss or blind draw is conducted as a fifth and final tiebreaker.

And when Lakewood Ranch's girls soccer coach Guy Virgilio picked heads on that fateful coin toss last week at Manatee High, the Mustangs were awarded the top seed for this week's Class 5A-District 8 tournament.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, were saddled with the No. 2 seed.

"That's not really a fair way of doing it, but I guess there's got to be a winner," Virgilio said. "I was the lucky one that won the coin toss. But that's kind of a strange way to win a number one seed."

Manatee head coach George Ameres agreed at the uniqueness of choosing the top seed via a coin toss.

"To feel like you played well and you did just enough to have goal differential to solidify that home field advantage, and for it to come down to a coin toss is a tough pill to swallow," Ameres said.

The Hurricanes defeated the Mustangs 3-0 in November, before Ranch exacted revenge with a 3-1 victory in December.

The two sides went 6-1 in the four-team district. The tournament starts Tuesday with the Mustangs hosting Sarasota, while the Hurricanes host Sarasota Riverview in the other semifinal.

The winners meet Friday for the championship, which will be held at the highest remaining seed.

Manatee is aiming for its third straight district crown with a group of 13 players that were a part of those two previous district champion sides.

"They have as much pride as I can possibly ask for,"

Ameres said. "These girls understand their situation this year. We have 11 returning seniors. The majority of these girls are from the number two team in the state of Florida at the club level. They know that they are capable of going out and accomplishing something that this school, from a girls soccer standpoint, has never accomplished. So they are giving it their all this year."

The top two teams in each district advance to the regional portion of the state playoffs.

Lakewood Ranch has progressed past the district tournament every year since 2001.

"We need to do a better job of winning the middle," Virgilio said. "When we lost against Manatee, I didn't feel like we were winning a lot of balls. Manatee's very strong in the middle."

While Manatee and Lakewood Ranch are the top two seeds, Ameres isn't taking any chances with Tuesday's semifinal.

"We have a lot of respect for Riverview. We've had our hands full both times we played them," Ameres said. "We're definitely not trying to look past Riverview. They have the capability of beating us, if we don't come out and play our best soccer."

In addition to those area teams playing in Class 5A-8, the private schools comprising of Bradenton Christian, Out-of-Door Academy and Saint Stephen's begin the Class 1A-7 tournament on Tuesday.

Braden River starts the Class 4A-11 tourney at Venice on Wednesday.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 12:47 AM with the headline "Girls prep soccer | Coin toss decides seeding fate for Manatee and Lakewood Ranch ."