By Marshall Tempest
Reporter
The Apopka girls’ lacrosse team has taken a turn at the season’s halfway mark. Coming into this week, they were on a four-game losing streak. They had two contests this week: the first against the Lake Brantley Patriots on Tuesday, March 11, and the second against the Timber Creek Wolves after press time on Thursday, March 12.
Catching up
Coming into this week, the girls were 3-6 on the season, with wins over Lake Minneola (16-11), Ocoee (11-2), and Boone (6-5). Their losses were to Winter Springs (11-8), Windermere (9-8), West Orange (16-5), Edgewater (4-1), Lake Howell (17-5), and Winter Park (15-7).
In nine games, the team had scored 67 goals and allowed 90 for a 23-goal differential between their opponents. Apopka sits fourth in Class 2A Division 6 above Lyman, Ocoee, and Lake Howell and below Hagerty, Oviedo, and Lake Howell in that order.
With just four more games in the regular season after this week, and just one of them being a district matchup, Apopka has to shape up quickly. In Apopka’s first three games, they scored 32 goals. In their last six games, they have scored 35. They have scored nearly the same amount of goals in twice as many games.
Apopka vs. Lake Brantley (12-1) Loss
This game was fast-paced and got right to the action in the first quarter. After Lake Brantley won the faceoff, they immediately took it down to Apopka’s side of the field and scored. After just 26 seconds in the first quarter, Lake Brantley was up 1-0. This wouldn’t be the only time Lake Brantley found the ball in the back of the net quickly and with ease.
Apopka returned fire immediately, scoring their first goal just 30 seconds later, coming from Apopka’s Madeline Bondhus. This would be the Blue Darters’ only goal of the game. With 10:56 still to go in the first quarter, the game was tied 1-1.
But as the first quarter went on, Brantley dissected the Apopka defense and peppered their goalie from close range. The Patriots dominated possession and barely let Apopka get the ball, much less bring it to Lake Brantley’s side of the field for an offensive opportunity.
At the end of the first quarter, the Blue Darters were trailing 7-1, six goals behind. As Apopka became increasingly behind, the team became increasingly frustrated, as they received calls left and right that gave Lake Brantley possession.
By the end of the first half, Apopka was down 11-1 and had two yellow cards on two different players in the first half. Being down by ten meant the running clock would start in the second half and speed up the game.
The Patriots scored just one more goal in their win over Apopka. After losing to the Patriots, Apopka has dropped to 3-7
What’s next
With spring break next week, high school athletics will take a break next week. After next week, the girls lacrosse team will return and have three games the last week of March. First, an away game against Horizon on Tuesday, March 25, is set to start at 6:30 p.m. The second is against Olympia on Thursday, March 27, and is also an away game set to begin at 7 p.m. The third is against Oviedo at Apopka on Friday, March 28, set to start at 6:30 p.m. After those three games, Apopka has just one more game left in the regular season.
