Cypress Lake's offense too much for Palmetto Ridge

from Naples News

FORT MYERS — The Palmetto Ridge girls soccer team’s 2008-09 season was another step forward for the program. But it did not get past the offensive attack of Cypress Lake.

The Panthers took the Region 4A-3 quarterfinal match with a 5-1 win on their home field Thursday night.

Cypress Lake (20-3) will head down to Naples on Tuesday night for the regional semifinals. The Bears end their season at 11-6-3, the best record in the program’s short history.

“I’m extremely proud of them,” Palmetto Ridge coach Adam Vollrath said.

Four of the Panthers goals came in the second half.

The Bears took an early lead when Meghan Peltier took a deep free kick up high, and it found the back of the net. They held on to that lead almost to halftime.

But Cypress spent most of that time attacking Palmetto Ridge’s goal. Goalie Carmen Sanchez made several impressive saves, and a number of the Panthers’ other shots missed the target. She ended with 13 saves.

“When you’re getting peppered so much, they’re going to start dropping,” Vollrath said.

Sure enough, with seconds to go before halftime, Kelsey Stein scored on a free kick to tie it. In the second half, Codi Patinella tallied another goal to take the lead.

“Cypress lake had a great offensive team,” Vollrath said. “We came in defensive-minded until the last few minutes.”