TAMPA — Soccer is a game of inches that can break your heart into hundreds of pieces.
The Lakewood Ranch High girls soccer team learned that all too well after suffering a heart rendering defeat to St. Johns Bartram Trail on Wednesday night in the Class 4A state semifinal at Pepin Stadium.
The previously undefeated Mustangs lost the game 5-3 on penalty kicks after going through 80 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtime periods that ended in a 1-1 deadlock.
Each team nailed their first three penalty kicks when a player goes one on one against the goalie. After Bartram scored its fourth goal, senior Kristen Hagaman aimed for the corner of the goal, but her shot went high toward the middle and enabled Bears goalie Lauren Hamilton to leap up and stop the shot.
After the Lakewood Ranch miss, Alcia Jacobson booted a shot that also missed the corner and went high. Mustangs goalie Katherine Somodi jumped straight up in the air and was able to deflect the shot, but it went off her finger tips and into the goal to end the game.
“It’s a tough way to go, but I am still very proud of the girls. They were able to accomplish a lot,” Lakewood Ranch head coach Guy Virgilio said. “I didn’t see the miss on the penalty kick. Kristen has been reliable all year and just got a little too excited. She had picked her corner, but it didn’t come off her foot the way she wanted it to. She is very disappointed, but she is one of the reasons we came this far.”
Bartram dominated the ball most of the game, but Lakewood Ranch got on the board first when Sarah Miller scored her 26th goal of the season with an assist from Deana Haller in the 46th minute from about 15 yards out.”
Bartram Trail (24-2-1) seemed to pick up its attack even more after the goal and Lakewood Ranch (19-1-2) went into a defensive mode.
The Bears evened the score on a header by their school career and single season scoring leader, Sam Scalf off an assist on a corner kick from Pam Carey. It was the 59th goal of the season for the James Madison University bound striker and the 160th goal of her career.
“After we scored the goal we relaxed a little bit too much and decided to play defense and they scored,” Virgilio said. “Just like I said many times, one mistake one way or another can do it. I thought we had a great opportunity several times to score after it was tied and the ref called offsides twice.”
After Bartram tied the game, the Bears controlled the action for nearly all of the rest of the regulation time. Lakewood Ranch did get several scoring opportunities and looked to have a break-away on several occasions, one time with Miller out in front, but offsides was called.
“It’s great to win to win games like this when you go to penalty kicks, but it’s a tough way to lose,” Virgilio said. “I am still very proud of the girls. They were able to accomplish a lot. When you get into game like this with such high caliber play so many things can happen and sometimes it depends your frame of mind. Emotions can get really high and it affects your play.”
After the match ended, Hamilton looked as if she was hyper-ventilating and was lying on the ground and the Bartram players were in tears. People were screaming that she wasn’t breathing and an ambulance was called. However, she regained her breath and was not taken to the hospital. A tournament official said she had an anxiety attack.
The lost is disappointing, but it ends the best soccer season in school history for either girls or boys at Lakewood Ranch. Miller finished the season leading her team in goals and assists (16). -
