Lady Eagles ease into first place

Tuesday night's drizzly affair at Booster Stadium propelled the host Lady Eagles into first place in the tiny, four-team Class 5A, District 7 standings.
F.W. Springstead posted its third shutout of the season and improved to 2-0-0 in 5A-7 via a 4-0 nod over visiting Ocala-Forest (2-3-0 overall, 1-1-0 5A-7).

Using her head

Senior midfielder Cristina Passafaro opened the scoring on a set piece. On a corner kick entry by junior Alyson Brady, Passafaro flicked a header past Wildcat goalkeeper Meghan Williams with four minutes remaining in the first half, 1-0 Eagles.
"The header was big," described the 17-year-old Passafaro. "It gets your confidence up. It was nice to get one."
Passafaro's second goal in two games wasn't threatened until nine minutes passed in the second half.
That's when Springstead junior goalkeeper Monica Vega made a spectacular sliding deflection of a breakaway attempt by the Wildcats' Ashanti Stewart from nine yards out.
The stop, one of only two saves by Vega, enabled the hosts to maintain momentum.
"Monica's (Vega) save was huge," said Passafaro. "If that goal went in it would have changed the momentum of the match.
"Defensively, I thought we played really well even though (sweeper) Ashley (Southall) is still hurting (bad ankle) and Kaitlyn (Duke) is also still out (ankle injury)."
In a match SHS out-shot Forest, 13-5, the Wildcats eventually cracked permitting three goals across the final 15 minutes of the match.
At 65:00 minutes, junior Ashley Walker collected a Passafaro feed before burying a left-footed 15-yard shot behind Williams, 2-0. Like Passafaro, Walker's goal was her second in two matches.
Four minutes later, Brady tallied her second assist of the match as senior Cally Quinn scored her third goal of the season, 3-0.
With 30 seconds remaining, Quinn's county-leading fourth assist led to freshman Tara Vasquez's second goal of the season to close the scoring, 4-0.
Quinn agreed with Passafaro's summation of the match.
"If Vega doesn't make that stop, it changes the whole match," recalled the 17-year-old Quinn. "It was a big save. We need her to step up."
Why the success?
"Communication is real big," replied Quinn. "Passes wouldn't be completed without it. It's so important to listen to your teammates and your coaches."

Reaction

Forest's third-year Head Coach Expo Marques was not pleased when his squad dropped its second straight match.
"We've got to work harder on our combinations, and work better at passing with our feet" said Marques. "I promise you when we meet them again we'll be ready.
"Tonight, we really didn't play together," added Coach Marques. "I can't fault our goalkeeper (Williams)."
What were Marques' impressions of Springstead?
"No. 19 (Passafaro) and No. 22 (Brady) are two really good players," he said. "They're a pretty good team. The difference tonight was their players listened to the coaches."

Milestone reached

With the win, Springstead's fifth-year Head Coach Polo Furlong tied John Bifulco for the most-ever wins in Hernando County girls soccer history (76).
And though Furlong will get a chance to surpass Bifulco's mark on Monday night at archrival Nature Coast Technical, he chose instead to focus on his players.
"Monica Vega was excellent tonight," said Furlong. "That save early in the second half kept the momentum in our favor. Give credit to Vega, it was a tremendous play."
How pivotal was the win?
"I was so nervous about the match," he said. "Then Crissy heads a ball in and that's when I started to calm down. We really didn't know what to expect from Forest. That first goal gave us a great advantage. And trust me, the next time we play them they'll be ready and gunning for us."

Springstead 4, Ocala-Forest 0
OF 0 0 -- 0
SPG 1 3 -- 4
Goals - SPG: Passafaro, Walker, Quinn, Vasquez.
Assists - SPG: Brady (2), Quinn, Passafaro.
Shots on goal - OF: 5; SPG: 13.
Saves - OF: Williams 4; SPG: Vega: 2.
Yellow cards - none.
Blue cards - none.
Red cards - none.
Records - Ocala-Forest (2-3-0 overall, 1-1-0 5A-7), Springstead (5-1-0 overall, 2-0-0 5A-7).