- November 7, 2024
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The Matanzas Lady Pirates and the Flagler Palm Coast Bulldogs tied 4-4 in their second match in two weeks, Thursday, Dec. 22, at FPC.
The Lady Dawgs took the lead on four separate occasions, but the Pirates quickly responded each time.
Tanagna Payne opened the scoring, converting a penalty kick with less than three minutes remaining at the half. Shortly after, Claire Slamka put the Pirates on the board.
The Bulldogs would go up again around the 30th minute on a second goal from Payne, but Miracle Porter dribbled past several defenders until she was eventually brought down in the box for a penalty. She would convert the PK to tie the match.
At the 10-minute mark, Payne recorded her third goal — and seventh against Matanzas this season — putting FPC up 3-2, but Porter answered with her second goal of the night less than a minute later.
With the clock now under five minutes, Jade Louis-Jeune seemingly put the Bulldogs up for good at 4-3, but Porter had other thoughts.
In the following moments, Bulldogs' keeper blocked Porter's shot in the box, and the refs decided not to penalize FPC, when Porter went down in the box, much to the disappointment of Pirate Nation.
Still, in the last 40 seconds of the match, Porter found an opening, where she was able to tie the match and record her second straight hat trick against the Bulldogs.
Chasing the record: With those three goals, Porter now trails the all-time leading Florida goal scorer Andrea Sellers by one goal with 228.
Due to an error caught by Matanzas coach Tony Benvenuto, Porter didn't trail Sellers by 22 goals, as stated in a previous article. She trailed her by 23 goals. Benvenuto credited her with three goals in an early match, but she had only scored twice.