The Lecanto Lady Panthers are playing like a team with a new lease on
life.
Ever since the cats rallied to pull off a 3-2 overtime victory over
archrival Belleview in the 4A-6 district semifinals, the team has played
nearly perfect soccer. On Thursday night that stellar play continued with a
2-1 victory over the Creekside Knights in the first round of the girls state
soccer playoffs.
Right from the onset it was clear that both teams were prepared to play
at the top of their game. But for the Knights’ (19-5-3) every effort to push
the ball into scoring position was turned away and the young team’s
irritation began to show early on.
“We’d get it up there and be in position and then their defense would
clear it for them,” Creekside head coach Joe Lay said. “You could it see it
was a growing irritation for our girls as the game progressed. We’d work so
hard to get it down there and then they’d get a long kick and we had to
start it all over again. But give Lecanto’s girls on defense credit as well
as their forwards. They never stopped coming at us.”
The Panthers (19-3-2), however, never experienced the same exasperation
and they only needed seven minutes to score the game’s first goal. The
opportunity was set up on a beautiful assist by sophomore forward Ashley
Irizarry, who connected on a perfect pass play with fellow classmate Amy
Wheat. The shot to the back of the net gave Lecanto the early 1-0 lead and
brought the home crowd to its feet.
Less than a minute later, the heavens opened up and the two teams played
in a driving rainstorm for the remainder of the first half. The second half
was played under drier conditions and that seemed to help Creekside in its
effort to move the ball amongst itself.
But again, that maneuverability never translated to a score for the
Knights. The Panthers, on the other hand, took advantage of a great move by
Kayla Perry who split two Creekside defenders with a perfect pass to
Irizarry. The forward’s easy score gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead in the
game’s 52nd minute.
The Knights had several great scoring opportunities, none better than
Monica Resto’s shot in the 66th minute from pinpoint range that was turned
away on a great save by the only senior on the pitch for either team,
Panthers goalie Emily Stanton.
The Knights were only able to manage a late penalty kick goal by Resto in
the game’s waning seconds and their first trip to the state playoffs ended
with a 2-1 loss on the road.
“One thing I know about this team… we have no seniors and we accomplished
this much. We’ve got nothing to be ashamed of,” Lay told his girls in the
post-game huddle. “Right now you girls did something for this school and
this team … you put us on the map. People know who we are now. There’s
nothing I can do to lessen the sting you feel right known but you have
plenty to be proud of with everything you accomplished this season.”
The Panthers only outshot the Knights 17-13, but Stanton’s 10 saves would
in the end prove to be the difference maker.
“Coming into this season we didn’t know what to expect, especially as
young as we are,” Lecanto head coach Kevin Towne admitted. “We’ve come so
far. The girls have really brought their hearts to every game with them
since October. I think the turning-point game for us was our comeback win
against Forest (Ocala). I think since then we’ve really believed in
ourselves and honestly believed that we could play on the field with
anyone.”
Towne was quick to mention the “stingy, remarkable play of our defense”
by name. “Carleigh (Williams), Paige (Cooke), Jayne (Henry), D.J. (Denise
Aleman) and Emily Stanton in goal were all phenomenal,” Towne explained.
“And to think about what we’ll be like when they get older. We don’t know
who we’re playing yet in the next round but we know that we’re playing it
right here on our home field and that’s a great thing.”
With the victory the Panthers advance to the state tournament’s Sweet 16
where they await the winner of the Ponte Vedra/Citrus game that was
postponed on Thursday night and is scheduled to be played in Ponte Vedra
tonight.
