Panthers slip past Pirates

Panthers slip past Pirates

The Lecanto varsity girls soccer team won 2-0 at Crystal River on Wednesday night in a match that featured two squads working out their kinks early in the season.

“We started out flat tonight after playing a game last night,” explained Panther head coach Roselle Seda.

“But it’s a county rivalry so the blood started to flow as the game went on. We started to take more chances on shots.”

Panther midfielder Kylie Fagan took one of those shots, successfully, with fewer than two minutes of play remaining in the first half, finessing a chip-shot over Pirate defenders to giver her team a first-half lead.

Lecanto’s second goal came 52 minutes into the match when forward Ashley Irizarry drilled a direct free kick that spun off the hands of Pirate goalie Sydney Campellone. Irizarry would nearly miss another potential goal on a free kick 70 minutes in when she soared a ball that bounced off the left side post.

The Pirates took half as many shots on goal as the Panthers, but their young and stubborn defense gave a talented Lecanto team plenty of fits.

Pirate head coach Bill Reyes was proud of his team’s performance and optimistic for the future.

“We started two freshmen and a sophomore on defense tonight, and some of our players just finished their volleyball season so it was the first time a few of them played this much,” said Reyes. more

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