Mustangs dominate district

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Sophomore Aubrey Riggins has become all too accustomed to scoring goals this season.

The Lakewood Ranch midfielder is the Lady Mustangs second-leading scorer with 17 goals and 13 assists. And yet Riggins has never had a four-goal game.

Until last weekend’s Class 4A-District 10 Championship.

Riggins netted four goals and an assist while leading Lakewood to a 5-0 victory over second-seeded Seminole Osceola Jan. 22.

With the win, Lakewood captured its eighth district title in nine years.

After earning the top seed in the tournament and a first-round bye, the Lady Mustangs began their run for the championship in the 4A-District 10 semifinals Jan. 21.

Lakewood took a 2-0 lead in the first half on a pair of goals by senior forward Sarah Miller and never looked back. The host Lady Mustangs defeated the Lady Rebels 5-0 to earn a spot in the district championship.

After resting most of its starters in the second half of the district semifinals, Lakewood entered the district championship poised and relaxed. On the other sideline, Seminole Osceola was coming off a grueling a three-game-in-three-days schedule.

“We were at a little bit of an advantage,” coach Guy Virgilio said. “Playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday — it’s just too many games in a small amount of time. By having a bye, and (Friday), we got to rest some of the starters, (and) it got to pay out.”

With the wind whipping through Lakewood’s stadium, the Lady Mustangs spent the first half keeping Osceola off the scoreboard while playing against the wind.

Riggins put the Lady Mustangs on the scoreboard in the 31st minute off an assist from her sister, Delaney Riggins. Miller added another goal three minutes later, giving Lakewood a 2-0 advantage.

“Once we won the coin toss, I just said, ‘Keep them from scoring in the first half. I know we’ll have the advantage in the second half,’” Virgilio said. “We started moving the ball around, and we made things happen.”

In the second half, Riggins scored three goals in a span of 13 minutes — two of which came two-and-one-half minutes apart.

“The goalie was coming off of her line, so it was easy to just chip it over her head,” Riggins said.

Kaitlyn Wolfe and Morgan Salmon notched a pair of assists, and goalkeeper Alexandra Latham tallied three saves on her way to her 17th shutout of the season.

“We knew that the game was not going to be easy,” Virgilio said. “That was a good team. We scored, and we knew once we scored, they had to come out, and that’s what they did.”

Following their victory, the Lady Mustangs grabbed an orange water cooler and drenched Virgilio, who spent the entire game trying to stay warm, in an ice bath.

“I told the girls I didn’t mind,” Virgilio said with a smile. “I didn’t mind at all.”

The district champion Lady Mustangs now will advance to the regional tournament, where they will play host to Dover Strawberry Crest, the District 9 runner-up, in a Region 3 quarterfinal match at 7 p.m., Jan. 27.

“It’s different,” Riggins said of this year’s team. “We have a lot of new players. We have (five) new freshmen. But everyone this year is really close knit and everyone is putting the effort in.

“We have a long way to go,” she said. “Last year, we got to the final four, so the pressure is on to make it there again and possibly win states.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].