Stewart punches in late goal for Green Dragons

Despite significantly outshooting its county rival, the Lake Placid girls soccer team needed a late goal to secure a 3-2 win over Sebring on Monday night at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

"We just had one of those nights," Lake Placid coach John Merlo said. "We couldn't get anything to go in, man."

Lake Placid controlled the action much of the night, when Sebring dropped almost all of its players into its defensive zone. And even though the Green Dragons outshot Sebring 24-6, they needed a goal by Michelle Hunter, her sixth of the season, to pull out the non-district victory.

"It's always good to beat your county rival," Merlo said. "We always seem to have that game right after Thanksgiving, when we don't get any practice and it's interesting to see how everybody reacts.

"I felt like we had an opportunity to make it ugly and we just couldn't do it."

Yuribia Terrones - "just a scoring machine," Merlo said - scored 10 minutes into the match, and the Green Dragons posted a 2-0 lead when Brandy Landers netted a goal from about 20 yards out, "a beautiful shot" after an assist from Terrones, Merlo said.

But Sebring scored late in the first half, making it 2-1 at halftime, after breaking free in the middle of the field and after the goalkeeper mishandled the slow roller.

The Blue Streaks scored again on another breakaway, tying the game at 2 midway through the second half. But after a crisp assist from Ansley Stewart, Hunter knocked home the decisive goal with about 10 minutes left in the match.

Lake Placid played Mulberry on Tuesday night, while Sebring traveled to play Osceola in a district match.