Lakewood falls in regional semifinals

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Lakewood Ranch senior Taylor Jo Salmon walked off the field and immediately sank onto the ground behind the Lady Mustangs bench.

It was in that moment, as she sat with her head in her hands, that the realization finally began to sink in: Her high school soccer career was coming to an end.

For the second consecutive season, the Lakewood Ranch girls soccer team faced George Steinbrenner in the regional semifinals. And for the second year in a row, the scoreboard remained the same.

Only this time, the Lady Mustangs found themselves on the outside looking in. After defeating the Lady Warriors 2-1 on their way to their first state semifinal appearance a season ago, the Lady Mustangs fell short of a repeat performance. The visiting Lady Warriors defeated Lakewood 2-1 in a Class 4A-Region 3 semifinal match Feb. 1.

“We definitely knew it was going to be hard,” coach Guy Virgilio said. “We had a close game last year. We had a close game this year. Both (teams) fought very hard, and it could’ve gone either way. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way.

“I felt we had our opportunities early on, and it just kind of swung the other way, and they started coming after us,” he said. “Then, they scored, and it just was see-sawing back and forth. It could’ve been anyone’s game.”

Not only did the defeat end Lakewood’s hopes of making a return to trip to the state semifinals, but also it was the first time the Lady Mustangs had allowed a goal since a 3-2 loss to Clearwater Central Catholic Nov. 23.

“We came in not overconfident because we knew it was going to be a hard game, but I don’t know we just kind of freaked out,” Salmon said. “We’ve been so used to winning by so much that (when we’re down) we don’t know how to come back and recover from that.

“I told them if we go down, we have to be ready, and we worked on it in practice, but it obviously got to us,” she added.

Following the game, Salmon remained out on the field consoling her teammates, especially those, such as herself, who had just played their final game in a Lady Mustangs uniform.

“I just told them, ‘Don’t think of it as a negative,’” Salmon said. “Sure, you hate to lose, but think of everything we have accomplished. The reason I play high school soccer — it’s fun to win and it’s fun to represent your school — but these are my best friends. These are my sisters. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be out here.”

Lakewood took an early 1-0 lead when senior forward Sarah Miller, who had been guarded tightly all night, broke free in the ninth minute. The Lady Mustangs leading scorer took a pass from Chelsea Martin and outran a Lady Warriors defender for her 33rd goal of the season.

Steinbrenner responded when Cici Gonzalez was pulled down inside the penalty box. Gonzalez drilled the ensuing penalty kick inside the left goal post past freshman goalkeeper Alexandra Latham.

The goal snapped the Lady Mustangs 14-match shutout streak and kept Lakewood from posting its 19th shutout of the season.

The Lady Warriors snapped the 1-1 tie with about 24 minutes remaining in the game when Miranda Gonzalez headed the ball into the corner of the net.

While the Lady Mustangs were denied another chance to return to the state semifinals and make a run at a state title, Virgilio was pleased with the way his team played throughout the season. Lakewood allowed just seven goals all season and tallied 14 consecutive shutouts.

“Every year, we measure ourselves to how far we go in the playoffs,” Virgilio said. “This season was a great year. We broke a lot of school records. We had a great season. The ladies don’t have anything to be ashamed of, but it would have been nice to win this one.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].