Panthers hold off Green Dragons

Fast and furious was the theme for Wednesday night's boys Class 3A-District 9 soccer semifinal between top-seeded Mulberry and fourth-seeded Lake Placid.

Mulberry used its tremendous team speed, deft ball-handling, passing and a pair of goals from junior forward Luis Gomez to hold off a very game Lake Placid squad by a score of 4-2 at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

"This was the best match we played against Mulberry this season," said Green Dragon coach Josh Virkler. "We were a little unfortunate to allow two soft goals, one at the beginning of each half, and that kept us from playing at the level we wanted to play.

"The guys played hard, we got out and ran, scored two goals and I was satisfied with our effort."

The loss ends the season for Lake Placid, while Mulberry will take on second-seeded Frostproof for the district championship at 7 tonight. Frostproof outlasted a talented Fort Meade squad by a score of 4-3 in Wednesday night's other semifinal to advance to the championship match.

Lake Placid, which was shut out by Mulberry in both regular-season matches, allowed Gomez to get free in front of the Green Dragon goal, and the Panther forward found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute of the first half.

After that early goal, the swarming Green Dragons defense held a potent Mulberry offense in check.

Lake Placid, which had 13 shots on goal, had several good scoring chances either sail wide of the goal or Panther senior keeper Fabian Guillen made the saves to keep the Green Dragons off the board in the first half.

"I was very proud of our guys," Virkler said. "After that early goal we worked hard, played excellent defense and it was an even match.

"Mulberry is a very fast, skillful team and we did a good job of weathering a lot of different things in our defensive backfield."

Instead of starting quickly to open the second half, Lake Placid allowed Andres Medina to work his way through a number of Green Dragon defenders before unloading a shot from just outside the 18-yard box that found the back of the net to give Mulberry a 2-0 lead with 38:43 remaining in the match.

The Panthers added to their lead when Gomez gathered in a rebound and rifled a shot into the upper-right corner for a commanding 3-0 lead with 33:29 left to play.

Lake Placid refused to fold and battled back as senior Santiago Herrera scored on a free kick from 30 yards out that just eluded the grasp of Guillen to trim the Green Dragons' deficit to 3-1 with 25:14 remaining.

Mulberry, which had 15 shots on goal, continued to attack and Fredi Leon took a beautiful crossing pass from Medina and scored to give the Panthers a little breathing room.

Lake Placid answered as senior Kyle Thompson moved up from his sweeper position to help with the offense and the move paid quick dividends as Thompson took a pass from Herrera and scored to pull the Dragons within 4-2 with less than five minutes left to play.

Lake Placid had a couple of attempts sail high in the closing minutes and Mulberry ran out the clock to seal the district semifinal victory.

With Lake Placid losing 10 seniors to graduation, the Green Dragons will have to regroup in order to contend for the district title next year.

"We played hard until the final whistle and I have to give credit to seniors Santiago Herrera and Kyle Thompson," said Virkler. "Kyle has been a rock for us for four years and has excelled at whatever position I put him at and Santiago had a great career and had a nice goal for us tonight.

"We lose 10 seniors off this team, but we have a number of quality players coming back next year and they'll have to gain experience by playing in matches."