Dragons blank Red Devils in district soccer

After attempting 22 shots with no goals in last Friday's regular-season finale against Sebring, the Lake Placid girls soccer team was a frustrated bunch of players.

During the first 30 minutes of Tuesday night's Class 3A-District 9 quarterfinal against Avon Park, the frustration only mounted as shot after shot by the Green Dragons sailed wide of the goal.

But the offensive persistence paid off in a big way as Lake Placid, which finished with 37 shots on goal, scored twice in a 2-minute span late in the first half and hung on for a hard-fought 2-0 win over a very scrappy Red Devils squad at Faris Brannen Stadium.

The victory improved the Green Dragons to 12-7-1 and sets up a semifinal match against Frostproof at 6 tonight.

"This was a repeat of the match we played against Sebring last week with a lot of opportunities, but not putting the ball in the net," said Lake Placid coach John Merlo. "We'll take the win, but we should have scored more.

"We're passing the ball and communicating better and our defense is strong, but we have to finish our scoring chances if we want to keep playing."

The loss ends the season for a much-improved Avon Park team, which has a solid nucleus of underclassmen coming back for next year.

"I thought this was our best game of the season," said first-year Red Devils coach Jordan Dancer. "We played solid defense, Guadalupe Luevano had a solid effort clearing the ball and Tiffany Card did an amazing job of keeping Lake Placid's top player from scoring any goals.

"Our goalies, Jacqueline Yenaz and Kristazsa Allong, were like brick walls and I'm pleased with our effort and I'm looking forward to next year because we have a talented group of girls coming back."

Lake Placid came out strong and dominated the pace of play in the early going and kept the ball in front of the Avon Park goal, but the Green Dragons' shots sailed just wide, a little too high, or were smothered by Yenaz, who was in goal for the Red Devils in the first half .

"The thing we're doing well is seeing the field and passing," Merlo said. "Our midfielders and forwards are doing an excellent job of putting the ball in good positions to score and we just have to finish our chances."

Avon Park, which had eight shots on goal, missed a good scoring opportunity in front of an open goal before Lake Placid broke the scoring drought.

Britney Collison gathered in a rebound and blasted a shot from just inside the 18-yard box into the upper-right corner to give the Green Dragons a 1-0 lead with 9:32 remaining in the first half.

Lake Placid's Michelle Hunter scored the next goal by using her speed to gather in the ball on a breakaway and blasted a shot into the upper-left corner with 7:52 left in the first half.

Lake Placid's suffocating defense and the quick reflexes of keeper Sarah Thompson made the lead hold up to secure the win in the opening round of the district tournament.

The victory over Avon Park gives Lake Placid a chance to avenge a pair of losses to Frostproof in the regular season.

"We lost to Frostproof twice during the season," Merlo said. "We played terrible the first game, but we match up well with them and we dominated them when we were at home, but gave up a couple of late goals.

"Our midfielders are playing well, but our forwards are going to have to step it up a notch if we want to beat a quality team like Frostproof."

Class 3A-District 9 girls soccer tournament

WHO: Lake Placid vs. Frostproof

WHEN: 6 tonight in Frostproof

COST: $6