Lourdes defeats Palmetto

Florida Girls Soccer Florida Girls Soccer

Florida Girls Soccer
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Lourdes defeats Palmetto

from miami herald

The Lourdes girls' soccer team knew it would have a good chance of keeping its winning tradition intact this season despite losing 11 seniors.

A strong core of experienced returning sophomores was the key.Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.

Carolina Garcia, who started the final three playoff games last season, showed why she is one of the most valuable Thursday during a 2-0 victory against Palmetto in a Region 4-6A quarterfinal at Columbus High School.

Lourdes (18-2-1), which has advanced to at least the regional finals the past three seasons, will play Coral Reef in a regional semifinal game Tuesday.

The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Southridge.

Garcia made seven saves, including three in the second half, to preserve her 17th shutout of the season.

''Carolina's become an incredibly solid goalkeeper this season,'' Lourdes coach Ray Walden said.

``She's been having those kinds of performances against nearly every team we've faced.''

Lourdes starts only two seniors this season, yet it has put together one of the top defensive teams in Miami-Dade County.

Garcia had shutouts in all 14 regular-season district games this season.

''We're pretty solid at all positions,'' Walden said. ``We have about 16 or 17 players that can start, which gives us a lot of depth.''

Garcia is among several key contributors who started as freshmen last season.

Others include Nicole Grande and Claudia Leon, who provided all the scoring Lourdes would need to put away Palmetto (14-4-3) during a quick momentum swing late in the first half.

After Lourdes drew a foul inside the 18-yard box, it earned a penalty kick. Leon took the shot and sent it past the reach of Palmetto freshman Erika Avanic in the 36th minute.

Less than two minutes later, Lourdes set up its second goal. Junior Danielle Esnard used her heel to pass the ball to junior Natalie De La Camara, who found Grande open in front of the goal. Grande kicked the ball past Avanic with her left foot.

''I think we caught them off balance because it had been pretty even until that point,'' Walden said.