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Dragons Blank Blue Streaks

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Sebring forward Maxime Copley maneuvers the ball past Lake Placid's Brandy Landers during the first half of Monday night's match at Firemen's Field.

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By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 3, 2008

SEBRING - Using speed, skillful ball-handling and sharp passing, Lake Placid eased past Sebring by a score of 2-0 in girls soccer on Monday night at Firemen's Field.

The Class 3A Green Dragons, who dominated play with 15 shots on goal, used second-half goals by senior midfielder Erica Resendiz and junior forward Yuribia Terrones to improve to 3-0-1 on the season.

"I knew we could win, we just had to get back in shape after the holiday break," said Resendiz. "It's good to get rid of all the turkey I ate and it always feels good to beat Sebring."

The loss dropped the Class 4A Blue Streaks, who had six shots on goal, to 1-4.

"We played well on defense, but we missed several scoring opportunities and that hurt us," said Sebring coach Steve Ashley. "We've been struggling on offense, but we made a match of it until the last few minutes.

"Lake Placid played well and deserved to win."

Neither team could generate much offense in the first half, as Sebring goalie Amanda Grimaldo stopped seven Green Dragon shots, while Lake Placid sophomore keeper Sarah Thompson turned away four Blue Streak attempts.

Sebring switched Grimaldo to sweeper for the second half, which allowed the talented sophomore to play defense and still help with the Blue Streak offensive attack.

The move helped Sebring record several shots on goal, but Lake Placid broke the tie when Resendiz maneuvered past several Blue Streak defenders and blasted a shot into the upper-right corner from 20 yards out in the 70th minute.

The Green Dragons added an insurance goal in extra time when Terrones gathered a through ball in front of the goal and rifled a shot into the back of the net for the final score.

"It feels good to score against Sebring," said Terrones. "I told the girls at halftime that we had to beat Sebring because they're our rivals.

"This is a good win for us and gives us some momentum heading into a district match with McKeel Academy."

The lack of goals for Sebring has Ashley scratching his head.

"We had our chances and couldn't do anything with them," said the Blue Streak coach. "Amanda wanted to create a presence on both ends of the field and it's not working to well.

"We've got to keep her up on offense and get the ball to her or keep her back on defense, but we can't keep doing both."

Lake Placid, which was without the services of senior Julie Shrewsbury, continues to show improvement in every phase of the game.

"We hadn't practiced in seven days and it showed tonight," said first-year Green Dragon coach John Merlo. "We were sloppy in the first half, but we picked it up in the second half and put a lot of pressure on Sebring.

"Erica is a hard worker and does a good job of controlling the action and when Sebring changed goalies we made sure we tried to attack as often as possible."

Lake Placid hosted McKeel on Tuesday night in its first home match of the season in a key District 8 matchup.

"We've been road warriors early in the season," Merlo said. "It'll be good to play a home match and we beat Mulberry earlier this season and a win over McKeel would put us in good shape in the district.

"We're off to a good start and I'm proud of the attitude and the effort the girls are playing with."

Sebring hosted Sarasota Booker on Tuesday night in a District 10 match.

For the complete story and pictures of the match check out Thursday's Highlands Today sports section.

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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