It's All About Momentum

NEW PORT RICHEY - With Land O' Lakes peaking and Central staggering at the conclusion of their respective seasons, the Lady Gators sent the Lady Bears pacing following the Class 5A, District 7 semifinal match at River Ridge Middle/High School.
Land O' Lakes Head Coach Vicky King seemed pleased with her team.
"I always thought that we could do something, it just took time to come together, just learning how to play," explained King about how her young squad matured this season. "Now a lot of young kids are playing very well."
The Lady Gators (12-8-2 overall) advanced to Friday night's title game.
Eighteen minutes into the first half, Land O' Lakes junior Kendra Nicholson received a pass from the left wing at the top of the penalty box. Three Central defensemen arrived only to be split down the middle by the forward. Nicholson's shot beat goalie Kady McCandless bottom left giving the Gators a 1-0 lead.
The second and final goal came in the 66th minute of play.
Gator senior Kaitlin Hodgins centered a pass to freshman Morgan Crescent, who hit the right post, got her own rebound and beat a diving McCandless to her bottom right.
"With my sweeper going down in the first 10 minutes of the game that pretty much set the tone for them," said third-year CHS Head Coach Amy Ellis of her 5-9-5 Bears. "The first goal was miscommunication. I think from that point there, the girls kind of set back on their heels.
"It was a good game, the last game of the season; they didn't give up," Ellis continued. "The last two minutes of the game these girls had it in their head that they might still put two in the back of the net, so you got to give it to them, the heart was there tonight. They just didn't have the rest of it."

Bears: short-handed

Central, with 20 players on the roster, was without two starters and suffered a pivotal injury early. "The players tonight made a big difference," Ellis said. "Danielle Still was out for the whole first half. I put her back in obviously not up to par. And Brittany Miles and Marissa Still; one couldn't make it for personal reasons, and one has strep throat."
With the season over for her girls, Ellis still had some coaching to do, and remained optimistic about the future of her squad. "There are broken hearts I have to go mend. We're losing three starters. Hopefully, I'll have three solid players come in."

Land O Lakes 2, Central 0.
LOL 1 1 -- 2
CEN 0 0 -- 0

Goals - LOL: Nicholson, Crescent.
Assists - none.
Shots on goal - CEN: 5. LOL: 15.
Saves - CEN: McCandless 5, Howard 0.; LOL: Marshall 5.
Yellow cards - none.
Blue cards - none.
Red cards - none.
Records - Land O Lakes (12-8-2); Central (5-9-5 overall).