Lady ‘Crabs fall to Dawgs, mostly in the second half

Palm Coast Observer
Sports

The Flagler Palm Coast Lady Bulldogs routed the Seabreeze Sandcrabs 7-2 to win the Five-Star Conference Championship Tuesday, Jan. 5, at FPC.

Seabreeze began the scoring, when sophomore Alauna Neely sailed a ball from the distant right corner into the back side of the net in the fifth minute of the game, on the Sandcrabs first shot attempt. FPC tied the game in the fifth minute with a Bella Giuliano goal.

With a little under 10 minutes remaining, Neely put a ball into the box that perfectly found Skyler Mayo, who scored from a foot out of the box to put the Sandcrabs back up 2-1. Then, just before the break, Lady Dawg Jade Louis Juene scored off of a volley to tie the game 2-2 at halftime. The Sandcrabs had only two shots but made them both, and, despite giving up two goals, Seabreeze goal keeper had seven first-half saves.

In the first minute of the second half, Jemina Virret found the back of the net to give the Bulldogs their first lead. Then, Hald’s shot escaped goal keeper Hailey Beach’s gloves and rolled into the net. Just two minutes later, Hald nailed a long-range shot that sailed over Beach’s head. A few minutes later, Juene scored a second goal, when her ball bounced off of Beach’s block and ran into the net. Then, she secured a hat trick and the Bulldogs’ fifth score in the second half, when she rebounded a ball on the goal line and put it back in from point-blank range.

“We had the momentum and edge in the first half, but simple mistakes and not staying organized defensively allowed them to break through and get ahead of us," coach Kim Merkel said. "But we will channel our energy in learning from our mistakes and move on to what's really important to the seniors and this team, districts.”