
ATS – Naples Daily News Coverage of Barron Collier’s Girls Road Win Over Vero Beach!
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Florida Lacrosse News, High School, Southeast Girls, Tampa/Treasure Coast Girls.
photo via Jeremiah Wilson, Treasure Coast News
Barron Collier Girls Break Vero Beach’s Hex, Make State Semifinals
Excerpt:
VERO BEACH — Since entering the FHSAA in 2011, history had an ugly way of repeating itself for the Barron Collier High School girls lacrosse team.
But after six consecutive state tournament losses to state power Vero Beach, that frustrating history of falling to the same nemesis, in fact, became history.
Falling behind early in the first half, the Cougars stormed back and held on for a stunning 9-7 upset of Vero Beach in the third-round play-in game Friday night at Billy Livings Field at the Citrus Bowl.
“I’ve only been around for three years, but I know the history between Vero Beach and Barron Collier, how many times they’ve been our final dead end to a season, so it feels really, really good to jump over that hurdle,” Barron Collier coach Rob Chomo said. “The girls worked tremendously all year long.
“We had this game marked on the calendar from the first day of tryouts. Every week, whoever we were playing, we were modifying how we play for this game. They believed in one another and in the coaching staff. They stayed focused and discipline was the dagger tonight.”
In the first 10 minutes, Vero Beach was dominant, winning nearly every draw and controlling the pace with its speed. With most of the action being playing on Vero’s attacking end, the Indians (18-3), jumped out to a 5-0 lead following two goals from Gabby Sposato and a goal apiece by Preston Wakeland, Maddie Ellis and Meredith Moore.
Following a Cougars timeout, a game-changing adjustment was made.
“We were playing defense from the shoulders up. Our sticks were up high a lot and they were running by us,” Chomo said. “We made an adjustment to play the body more than the stick and got some really good goaltending tonight.”
Following the change, the Barron Collier defense closed any space Vero Beach previously enjoyed in the critical scoring area. The Cougars countered with six unanswered goals, taking the lead for the first time when Julianna Derby weaved past a couple of Indians defenders and wristed a shot past Vero goaltender Lexis Patton with 3:01 left in the first half.
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