- November 4, 2024
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The Matanzas Lady Pirates are on their way back to the Regional Championship for a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals with Land O’ Lakes, after shutting out Lake Minneola 3-0 Tuesday Jan. 27, at Matanzas High School.
After stalling the offensive pressure from the Hawks and great marking of the Lady Pirates’ Miracle Porter, Matanzas figured out Lake Minneola’s weaknesses and found its rhythm.
Focused too much on Porter, Lake Minneola allowed Leanna Ballschmieder continual freedom down the field, which she capitalized on. Ballschmieder scored Matanzas’ first goal on a direct kick to give the Lady Pirates a 1-0 lead to go into halftime.
Coming out of halftime, Taylor Gould found Porter for a second Matanzas goal, Porter’s 76th of the year, and in the last 20 minutes of the match, Kiley Dahlberg found a streaking Ballschmieder for her second goal of the night to put the game out of reach.
“We’re on a great journey with our team,” coach Tony Benvenuto said. “We’ve been here before, and our girls know what’s at stake. We definitely want to surpass the accomplishment that we had achieved last year.”
Matanzas hosted Land O’ Lakes last year, when they beat the Fighting Gators to advance to the state final four, but the Lady Pirates will have to travel to get the championship.
“Our goal this year was to at least make it back to the final four,” Benvenuto added. “We know they’re waiting for us because they want revenge. We have to do our best and see if we can beat them again to get to our goal.”
The Regional Championship will be played at 7 p.m. on Friday Jan. 29, at Land O’ Lakes.
Benvenuto concluded with, “We hope to come home with a win and represent Flagler County once again.”
