Girls soccer | Lakewood Ranch Mustangs halt Manatee Hurricanes in district title quest

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Danielle Wilson spent her first two years backing up Alex Latham as Lakewood Ranch's starting goalkeeper.

She bided her time behind Latham, who currently plays college soccer at Northwestern State, and soaked in any advice she received.

"She definitely taught me to trust yourself, because you don't always have to be conventional and follow the same techniques every single time," Wilson said. "You have to be fluid and be able to do whatever you can to make the save."

That lesson, in addition to working in tandem with her the center back pairing of Julia Ortiz and Nicole Wurster, keyed Lakewood Ranch's 2-0 victory over Manatee in Friday's Class 5A-District 8 championship.

"They're communicating sometimes by just looking at each other," said Lakewood Ranch head coach Guy Virgilio about his keeper and two defenders. "That's what I kind of noticed. That's the great thing with the defense is that they're able to communicate, but they know exactly what they are supposed to be doing so they just go

out and just do it."

The victory ended Manatee's (14-2-1) district title streak at two, while the Mustangs (15-1-1) kept a clean sheet for the 12th time this season.

To do so, the Mustangs started quick with two early goals.

First, Maddison Krstec bagged her third goal of the district tournament with a right-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the eighth minute..

Then senior Conli Schwarz doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Schwarz stayed with sophomore Caitlyn Klein's cross that wasn't cleared by Manatee, and turned her defender to rifle a left-footed shot inside the left post.

Lakewood Ranch rode the early strikes to a 2-0 halftime lead.

That set the stage for Manatee to attack, attack and attack some more for the final 40 minutes.

Wilson said she had to stay as relaxed as possible, and play the same in the second half as she did at the beginning when it was scoreless.

"Two-zero is one of those scary scores that they can come back at any second with two goals," Wilson said.

Well, Manatee kept pressing forward with wave after wave, producing 11 shots in the second half.

But the Canes only connected with three of those attempts on goal after the intermission.

"It's frustrating. We're getting the ball into the final third (and) we are getting great quality looks at the goal," Manatee head coach George Ameres said. "I mean, granted they are so well organized in the back that even though we have that split-second to get the shot off, they still put a lot of pressure on us. We just weren't hitting the frame (Friday)."

Lakewood Ranch's victory means a home match next Thursday in the regional quarterfinals against the runner-up from District 7, while Manatee is on the road at the District 7 champion.out and just do it."

The victory ended Manatee's (14-2-1) district title streak at two, while the Mustangs (15-1-1) kept a clean sheet for the 12th time this season.

The Mustangs started quickly. Maddison Krstec bagged her third goal of the district tournament with a right-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the eighth minute..

Senior Conli Schwarz doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Schwarz stayed with sophomore Caitlyn Klein's cross that wasn't cleared by Manatee, and turned her defender to rifle a left-footed shot inside the left post.

Lakewood Ranch led 2-0 at halftime.

That set the stage for Manatee to attack, attack and attack some more for the final 40 minutes.

Manatee produced 11 shots in the second half. But the Canes put only three on goal.

"It's frustrating. We're getting the ball into the final third (and) we are getting great quality looks at the goal," Manatee coach George Ameres said.

Lakewood Ranch's victory means a home match Thursday in the regional quarterfinals against the runner-up from District 7, while Manatee is on the road at the District 7 champion.out and just do it."

The victory ended Manatee's (14-2-1) district title streak at two, while the Mustangs (15-1-1) kept a clean sheet for the 12th time this season.

The Mustangs started quickly. Maddison Krstec bagged her third goal of the district tournament with a right-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the eighth minute..

Senior Conli Schwarz doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Schwarz stayed with sophomore Caitlyn Klein's cross that wasn't cleared by Manatee, and turned her defender to rifle a left-footed shot inside the left post.

Lakewood Ranch led 2-0 at halftime.

That set the stage for Manatee to attack, attack and attack some more for the final 40 minutes.

Manatee produced 11 shots in the second half. But the Canes put only three on goal.

"It's frustrating. We're getting the ball into the final third (and) we are getting great quality looks at the goal," Manatee coach George Ameres said.

Lakewood Ranch's victory means a home match Thursday in the regional quarterfinals against the runner-up from District 7, while Manatee is on the road at the District 7 champion.out and just do it."

The victory ended Manatee's (14-2-1) district title streak at two, while the Mustangs (15-1-1) kept a clean sheet for the 12th time this season.

The Mustangs started quickly. Maddison Krstec bagged her third goal of the district tournament with a right-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the eighth minute.

Senior Conli Schwarz doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Schwarz stayed with sophomore Caitlyn Klein's cross that wasn't cleared by Manatee and turned her defender to rifle a left-footed shot inside the left post.

Lakewood Ranch led 2-0 at halftime.

That set the stage for Manatee to attack, attack and attack for the final 40 minutes.

Manatee produced 11 shots in the second half. But the Canes put only three on goal.

"It's frustrating. We're getting the ball into the final third (and) we are getting great quality looks at the goal," Manatee coach George Ameres said.

Lakewood Ranch's victory means a home match Thursday in the regional quarterfinals against the runner-up from District 7, while Manatee is on the road at the District 7 champion.out and just do it."

The victory ended Manatee's (14-2-1) district title streak at two, while the Mustangs (15-1-1) kept a clean sheet for the 12th time this season.

The Mustangs started quickly. Maddison Krstec bagged her third goal of the district tournament with a right-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the eighth minute.

Senior Conli Schwarz doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Schwarz stayed with sophomore Caitlyn Klein's cross that wasn't cleared by Manatee and turned her defender to rifle a left-footed shot inside the left post.

Lakewood Ranch led 2-0 at halftime.

That set the stage for Manatee to attack, attack and attack for the final 40 minutes.

Manatee produced 11 shots in the second half. But the Canes put only three on goal.

"It's frustrating. We're getting the ball into the final third (and) we are getting great quality looks at the goal," Manatee coach George Ameres said.

Lakewood Ranch's victory means a home match Thursday in the regional quarterfinals against the runner-up from District 7, while Manatee is on the road at the District 7 champion.out and just do it."

The victory ended Manatee's (14-2-1) district title streak at two, while the Mustangs (15-1-1) kept a clean sheet for the 12th time this season.

The Mustangs started quickly. Maddison Krstec bagged her third goal of the district tournament with a right-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box in the eighth minute.

Senior Conli Schwarz doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Schwarz stayed with sophomore Caitlyn Klein's cross that wasn't cleared by Manatee and turned her defender to rifle a left-footed shot inside the left post.

Lakewood Ranch led 2-0 at halftime.

That set the stage for Manatee to attack, attack and attack for the final 40 minutes.

Manatee produced 11 shots in the second half, but only three were on goal.

"It's frustrating. We're getting the ball into the final third (and) we are getting great quality looks at the goal," Manatee coach George Ameres said.

Lakewood Ranch's victory means a home match Thursday in the regional quarterfinals against the runner-up from District 7, while Manatee is on the road at the District 7 champion.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 1:07 AM with the headline "Girls soccer | Lakewood Ranch Mustangs halt Manatee Hurricanes in district title quest ."