Hope Woods College Signing (20-Apr-08) 
 

Hope Woods will be signing her National Letter of Intent for her athletic scholarship to Longwood University. Please come celebrate this special achievement with Hope and her family, and her Gainesville High School and travel teammates.
 

Please join us in celebrating the signing of a National Letter of Intent for an athletic scholarship by

Hope Woods

The signing will take place at The Gainesville High School Auditorium On Wednesday, April 30 At 3:15 PM

 Lady 'Canes Dominate Their Quarterfinal Contest (25-Jan-08) 
 

Hustle, hustle, and more hustle. Hustle on defense, on individual marking, on transition to offense, that seemed to be the fundamental tactic of the Lady 'Canes against the Lady Eagles of Fleming Island, and it worked. The Lady 'Canes handled a perennial 5A powerhouse that has seen a Regional Semifinal and a Final Four in the last two years. The tactics employed by Fleming Island would be far less graceful.
 

The first half began hard, with the first foul of the game committed in the second minute of play. That would set the tone for the remainder of the game, lending a chippy edge to a hard fought contest. The tone set by the Lady Eagles, that of wanting to call the game for the officials, was obvious from the start. It hurt them badly just six minutes into the game, when Aimee Howe pushed a perfect pass to Hannah Kurdila, who had timed her run perfectly and received the ball behind the defense, and faced only the Lady Eagles' goalkeeper. All the Lady Eagles in the area immediately raised their hands, calling "Offside, offside!", and stopped playing. Hannah didn't, and gently rolled the ball past the protesting keeper into the net completely unchallenged for the Lady 'Canes first goal of the game and the State Tournament.
 

After some stern words from their coach, the Lady Eagles went on the offensive, in more ways than one. They did pressure the Lady 'Canes goal, but they also pressured the Lady 'Canes with aggressive, and sometimes overly aggressive play. With both sides committing multiple fouls, the game was in danger of getting away from the officials. It almost boiled over in the 30th minute when the Lady Eagles' #8 viciously fouled Hope Woods, and Hope retaliated with a quick shove of her own. This exchange produced the first two yellow cards of the game, as the center referee struggled to get control of the contest. Just four minutes later the Lady Eagles had their first clear chance to score, when a flat back line for GHS was beaten. But Maggie Lajza came up with a great diving save to her right, keeping the Lady 'Canes advantage intact. But you can't give a powerhouse another chance, and that's exactly what happened in the 36th minute, when the same play that Maggie had saved just a couple of minutes earlier did not go her way. The shot was the same, but the sand in the goal mouth did not cooperate, and Maggie's dive turned into a slip and fall, and she was only able to get her chin on the ball to keep it from going in the goal. But the ball squirted away before Maggie could get a hand on it, and she was helpless as she watched the Lady Eagles' #6 slot home the rebound to tie the game at one goal apiece. The Lady Eagles almost extended their lead just a minute later, when Maggie Lajza stopped a point-blank header off a corner kick.
 

At this point in the game the graceless and cynical tactics of the Fleming Island coaching staff were obvious: challenge Emily Dowd as hard as possible, even if it results in a foul. Well, just two minutes after the tying goal, the Lady Eagles' tactics backfired, when Emily Dowd did what she does best, collected a ball as high target, and run at the defense. After beating the defense, and just milliseconds from a clear shot on goal, a hard slide tackle from behind got nothing but Emily's ankles. It was also just 10 yards from the Lady Eagles' goal, and the penalty was whistled. The ever-dependable Gena Adams stepped up, and in the 38th minute of play calmly converted her third spot-kick of the season to put the Lady 'Canes up by a goal at half-time.
 

The second half was even less cordial than the first, with harder fouls and pointedly aggressive play. Emily Dowd started off the half by taking a couple of hard runs at the defense, and each time exposing a chink in the Fleming Island armor. The most telling of which was that every time Emily ran at the defense, they all collapsed in on her. Taking advantage of this in the 53rd minute, Emily made another run at the defense, and they all collapsed on her and pushed her to her left, and forced her all the way to the goal line. Emily, seemingly beaten, cracked a low, driving pass across the face of the goal to find Carson Simonton unmarked on the far post, who calmly side-footed the ball into an open net to extend the Lady 'Canes lead to two goals. The Lady 'Canes could have made the game a laugher had it not been for the Lady Eagles' goalkeeper who stuffed three one-on-one chances by Emily Dowd and Carson Simonton.
 

But, as time wore on, the Lady Eagles became more frustrated. Megan Foster had done a yeoman's job of marking their premier player completely out of the game, and Maggie Swanbeck was a perpetual motion dynamo in transition from defense to offense and back again. Combining this with the rest of the defense executing their assignments flawlessly, it all added up to a complete stifling of the Lady Eagles' offense. The Lady Eagles, held to perfunctory and inconsequential long-range shots, let their frustration boil over in the 74th minute when a Lady Eagle spat on Emily Dowd's back. Emily complained vehemently to the center referee, and was in mid-argument when she realized that the Lady 'Canes were mounting another attack. Emily broke off her complaint, turning quickly and making a defense-splitting run the Lady Eagles' back line was not ready for, and Carson Simonton didn't miss the opportunity to repay Emily for her earlier assist. Emily took Carson's pass, pushed in once to the right, out of the goalkeeper's reach, and punched home the final score of the game in the 75th minute of play. With that, the Lady 'Canes played a possession game for the last five minutes, and booked a date with Bartram Trail for their Region 1 Semifinal.
 

In what would be a "Thursday Night Massacre" that saw all six of the other area teams fall in their respective Regional Quarterfinals, the Lady 'Canes alone made it through, and now carry forward the area soccer standard, advancing the furthest of any GHS team since the legendary team of 1989, who made it to the Final Four. Now is as good a time as any to repeat history.
 

 Lady Hurricanes District 4-5A Champions! (18-Jan-08) 
 

The Gainesville Lady Hurricanes won the FHSAA District 4, Class 5A Championship by defeating cross-town rivals Eastside by a score of 2-1. This is the Lady 'Canes second title in four years, and their third finals appearance in four years. On a side note, all the major girls varsity soccer programs in Gainesville (Buchholz, Eastside, Gainesville, PK Yonge, Oak Hall and St. Francis) have advanced to the state playoffs in their classes, four of them as champions. The Lady 'Canes will face the Fleming Island Lady Eagles next Thursday, January 24 at 7:00 PM at Citizens' Field in the Region 1-5A Quarterfinals.
 

2007-2008 Girls Soccer District 4-5A Bracket
	Quarterfinal Mon, Jan 14	Semifinal Wed, Jan 16	Championship Fri, Jan 18
	Seed 1	Eastside   Lady Rams
		4-1 (2-1 HT) 5:00 PM	Eastside   Lady Rams
Seed 4	Columbia   Lady Tigers
	4-0 (2-0 HT) 6:30 PM	Columbia   Lady Tigers
Seed 5	Leesburg   Lady Jackets
			1-2 (0-0 HT) 7:00 PM	Gainesville   Lady 'Canes
Seed 2	Forest   Lady 'Cats			DISTRICT 4-5A CHAMPIONS
	7-0 (4-0 HT) 8:30 PM	Forest   Lady 'Cats
Seed 7	Lake Weir   Lady 'Canes	1-2* (0-1 HT) (1-1 FT) (1-1 OT) (2-3 PK) 7:00 PM
			Gainesville   Lady 'Canes
Seed 3	Gainesville   Lady 'Canes
	5-1 (3-1 HT) 4:30 PM	Gainesville   Lady 'Canes
Seed 6	Vanguard   Lady Knights
* Score Line After Penalty Shootout
The bracket is set.

 District 4-5A Semifinals Yield An All-Gainesville Final (17-Jan-08) 
 

The 2008 District 4-5A semifinals, with one game going as expected and the other a thrilling overtime and penalty shootout upset, yielded an all-Gainesville final, with #1 Eastside facing #3 Gainesville for the District championship. Bidding farewell to the 2007-2008 season were #4 seed Columbia who fell easily to #1 Eastside, and in an upset #2 seed Forest who never gave up hope until the very final shot of the game.
 

The day's action opened with the #1 seed Lady Rams playing the #4 seed Lady Tigers. In the two previous meetings, Eastside comfortably won both games. This third meeting of the season started out as a stronger test for the Lady Rams, with the Lady Tigers taking an early 1-0 lead, but by the halftime whistle, the Lady Rams had shifted the deficit in their favor by taking a 2-1 lead. The second half was all Lady Rams, and they cemented their #1 seeding and their victory by scoring two more goals to finish the game with a 4-1 score line to advance to the final.
 

This Lady 'Canes graduating class has beaten Forest only once, and that was in a District Final when they were Freshmen, to claim their lone FHSAA title. Since then they've managed a couple of ties, but that's about it. The question was, would the Lady 'Canes finally beat the team they just can't beat, or would this be an ignominious end to the high school careers of one of the best classes to ever take the field for the Purple & White? It took 100 minutes and ten nail-biting shots from the spot to answer the question.
 

The game did not open well for the Lady 'Canes. Barely two minutes in, a hand-ball dangerously close to the top of the GHS penalty area gave the Forest Lady 'Cats their first shot of the game. It forced a save from Maggie Lajza, and now the Lady 'Cats had a corner. It looked, for a moment, like this would be a long night for the Lady 'Canes. But Gena Adams had other plans, and organized her defense as she has all season, and took control of Lady 'Canes half of the field. This allowed the midfield to do what it does best, support the Lady 'Canes attack. The first glimmer of hope came in the 12th minute, when Emily Dowd took a Hannah Kurdila pass into the box, cracking a shot that forced a great save by the Forest goalkeeper. A different combination finally broke the Lady 'Cats' defense, when Hope Woods pushed a ball through traffic to Emily Dowd who right-footed her shot far post to put the Lady 'Canes on the scoreboard in the 14th minute. From then on, for the remainder of the half, it was a seesaw battle that showcased both defenses, and their ability to frustrate attacks on both sides. The half ended with the slimmest possible Lady 'Canes lead of 1-0.
 

Forest came out swinging in the second half, determined to get back into the game. The Lady 'Cats did manage to increase the number of shots they took, but without effect, until the unthinkable happened in the 68th minute... Gena Adams, the Lady 'Canes defensive backbone and Field General, trying to clear a low driven corner kick, had the ball glance off her head and into the GHS goal. The game was tied 1-1 with 12 minutes left. For that to be her first mistake of the season was heartbreaking. But as all true leaders do, Gena composed herself and continued to lead her team, keeping the defense intact for the rest of the game. Overtime only saw three real chances at winning the game. The first was a point blank volley by Hannah Kurdila in the first OT during a melee in front of the Forest goal, but it was successfully saved. The second came on an Emily Dowd breakaway in the second OT, but she was stripped of the ball just before shooting. The last opportunity came to the Lady 'Cats with three minutes left in the game on a corner kick that bounced around the area, but the Lady 'Canes finally cleared the ball, and the final whistle blew on 100 minutes of 1-1 soccer.
 

With the question of "will you or won't you" still open to the GHS Seniors, the Lady 'Canes sent forth its five best from the spot for the penalty kick shootout. Gena Adams shot first, and her attempt hit the right post; Forest #11 didn't miss, calmly hitting the upper-right 90°: Gainesville 0, Forest 1.
 

Emily Dowd buried her spot kick low to the left post to tie the game; Maggie Lajza brought out the Albatross, waving her arms like a giant, scowling bird as the Forest #2 shot clear over the crossbar: Gainesville 1, Forest 1.
 

Aimee Howe, cool as ice, punched her spot kick home to the upper-right 90°; Forest #12 successfully blasted her penalty right over Maggie Lajza's head straight down the middle: Gainesville 2, Forest 2.
 

Maggie Swanbeck stepped up next, and dinged her try off the right upright, but the goalkeeper was ruled to have moved forward, and Maggie got a second bite at the apple. Swanbeck went back to the same side, but the Forest goalkeeper was ready for her, and saved Maggie's second try; Forest #10 forgave Swanbeck's miss by rattling her shot off the crossbar: Gainesville 2, Forest 2.
 

The last shot of the mandatory 5-shot series saw Stephanie Clark step up to the spot, where she just hammered her shot past the Forest goalkeeper for the lead; Maggie brought out the Albatross, and it worked, as Forest #5 skipped her shot off the top of the crossbar to seal the Lady 'Cats fate and their season: Gainesville 3, Forest 2... Gainesville beats Forest for the second time in four years.
 

The celebration was what it should have been for a hard-fought and well-deserved victory. The starting eleven played most of the game, and in that mix were Seniors Clark, Dowd, Simonton, Strack and Woods. The Seniors, with their teammates, answered the question posed at the start of the game: "Yes, we CAN beat the team we just can't beat."
 

The District Championship match on Friday, January 18 will be #1 Eastside versus #3 Gainesville. An All-Gainesville final that guarantees both teams advancement to the State playoffs.
 

 District 4-5A Tournament Opens As Expected (15-Jan-08) 
 

The 2008 District 4-5A tournament opened as expected, with all the top seeds going though to the Semifinal games. Bidding farewell to the 2007-2008 season were #7 seed Lake Weir, #6 seed Vanguard and #5 seed Leesburg. Advancing to the Semifinals are #2 Forest to face #3 Gainesville, and #4 Columbia to face #1 Eastside. Eastside earned the bye for the Quarterfinals as the #1 regular season seed.
 

The day's action opened with the #3 seed GHS Lady 'Canes playing the #6 seed Lady Knights. In the two previous meetings, Vanguard eked out a 1-1 tie at home, but lost 8-0 at Hurricane Stadium in Gainesville. This third meeting of the season would split the difference between the two previous encounters, with a final score of 5-1 in favor of the Lady 'Canes.
 

Within seconds of the opening whistle, the Lady 'Canes forced the first of what would be 14 saves by the Lady Knights' keeper. By six minutes the Lady 'Canes had 9 shots on or around the goal, and had take complete control of the game. The 10th shot of the game came in the 7th minute, when Emily Dowd converted on a PK to open the day's scoring. Just five minutes later the Lady Knights took advantage of a defensive lapse, and scored on their lone shot of the first half in the 12th minute. At one goal each the Lady Knight's went into their bunker defense, and kept the Lady Canes at bay for three minutes, but a spot-on through pass from Hannah Kurdila sprung Emily Dowd free for her second goal. The same combination came through again in the 22nd minute to complete Emily Dowd's hat trick. The second half opened the same way the first half did, with a quick breakthrough by the Lady 'Canes, with Stephanie Clarke getting the first of her two assists when she fed Hannah Kurdila for the fourth goal. Again, the Lady Knights fell back into a bunker defense, relying only on their keeper and the occasional counterattack to keep the relentless Lady 'Canes attack off the scoreboard until the 73rd minute, when Stephanie Clark placed a perfect 35-yard pass across the field to an unmarked Carson Simonton, who did not forgive the Lady Knights' marking mistake, and shot home for the Lady 'Canes fifth goal of the evening.
 

In the second game of the evening, Columbia took control of the game early against Leesburg, and never let go, easily cruising to a 4-0 victory. The same was true for the third game, Forest versus Lake Weir. However, the Lake Weir Lady 'Canes played with a tremendous amount of heart and determination, and even gave Forest a couple of scares in the first half. But, Lake Weir eventually fell 0-7.
 

The semifinal match-ups for Wednesday, January 16 are #1 Eastside versus #4 Columbia, and #2 Forest versus #3 Gainesville.
 

 GHS Varsity Wins Last Regular Season District Game (22-Dec-07) 
 

The Eastside Lady Rams were not there just to play, they were there to win, and they brought their "A" game. But, the Lady 'Canes, playing their best game of the season, were ready for the challenge. At the end of the evening, against a nearly perfect opponent, the Lady 'Canes proved they were the class of the district by defeating the #1-District-4-seed Eastside Lady Rams by a stunning and resounding 5-1 score line in a thrilling end-to-end match.
 

The game began as was predicted, with the Lady Rams putting early pressure on the Lady 'Canes, trying everything they could to get the quick early goal. For a few minutes it looked as if the Lady Rams might be able to build a cohesive attack, but the Lady 'Canes were uncooperative. It quickly became a back-and-forth game, with each team having its opportunities. But the flawless play of the Lady 'Canes midfield and defense, anchored by some unbelievable goalkeeping kept the Lady Rams frustrated. The action was stepped up a notch in the 13th minute, when the Lady Rams were able to finally find a way through, resulting in a cracking 8-yard shot that forced a brilliant reaction parry save from Maggie Lajza. With the ball spinning on the turf in front of an empty net, Maggie recovered from her save, pouncing again on the ball with one hand to smother the follow-up shot by an onrushing Lady Rams attacker, only to see the ball squirt away again, but still lying in front of the open goal. Jordan Strack and Gena Adams simultaneously jumped on the loose ball, blocking the third shot, and clearing the ball out of danger. Or so they thought, because just a few seconds later in the 14th minute the Lady Rams combined some magnificent passes to beat the Lady 'Canes defense again, and #4 thundered an unstoppable 10-yard far post shot to Maggie Lajza's left. This forced the save of the game, when Maggie launched herself airborne three feet off and parallel to the ground, she caught the ball dead out of the air. It was a turning point in the game, because it not only kept the Lady Rams off the scoreboard, but Maggie's clearance led directly to a precise Hannah Kurdila pass to Hope Woods for a 10-yard shot to open the night's scoring at the 14th minute. From then on, in some thrilling play, both teams traded chances, and both goalkeepers made incredible saves to keep the score line at Lady 'Canes 1, Lady Rams 0 at the half.
 

From the first whistle, and lasting through the remainder of the game, the Lady 'Canes defense understood their job, never missing an opportunity to disrupt the Lady Rams attack. Every Lady 'Cane played her position virtually mistake free, starting with the goalkeeper and spreading through the rest of the team. Maggie Lajza kept the Lady 'Canes in the game with a dozen saves, some of them nearly miraculous. Gena Adams has emerged as the team's General, always organizing the defense, never panicked, stalwart and trustworthy at sweeper, and expertly covering for defenders who press up in attack. Megan Foster would not quit hassling the Lady Rams forwards all night long, following the ball rotation, and disrupting attack after attack through dogged and physical play. Tori Buono, sometimes out skilled and outpaced by her Lady Ram opponents, played with such amazing heart and determination, that she completely stifled the vaunted left-wing attack of the Lady Rams, and forced an Eastside tactical change, as they moved their very best winger over to Tori's side to try to get the best of her, which they failed to do, as Tori shut her down as well. Jordan Strack, who seemed to not be feeling well, took any incursion into her defensive zone personally, and dealt with every such transgression aggressively and decisively, not only stopping attacks, but also making some brilliant passes out of defense for the midfielders to build upon.
 

The second half of the game was a watershed for a midfield that had struggled all season to find its pace. No such problem, now. Building on their work rate in the first half, they now added skill and savvy to pick apart the Lady Rams defense, allowing the forward Kurdila-Dowd duo to torment the Lady Rams' goalkeeper. It all started off very quickly, when in the 46th minute, a series of passes ended with Emily Dowd crossing a ball onto Hannah Kurdilla, who pushed one step wide of the onrushing defender, and fired home the Lady 'Canes second score of the night. With the midfield so omnipresent in every attack, the Lady Rams defense was spread out, unable to concentrate on the dangerous Dowd, who had already broken through twice in the game, only to have her shots saved. No such luck for the Lady Rams in the 50th minute, as Emily Dowd was able to pick up a loose ball, beat a defender and the sweeper, and charge at the goalkeeper unopposed to slot home the third goal for the Lady 'Canes. The Lady Rams, who came very close to scoring after hitting the crossbar, forced a third spectacular save out of Maggie Lajza on a perfectly placed upper-90 shot off a free kick in the 64th minute. Three minutes later, at 67 minutes, it happened again: a spread out Lady Rams defense was unable to contain Emily Dowd. Dowd picked up the rebound off a Kurdila shot, raced across the top of the penalty area, beating 5 defenders until she found an opening, and then rifled a 16-yard left footed shot across her body to the far post, leaving the Lady Rams' goalkeeper and defense helpless to stop the inevitable: a 4-0 Lady 'Canes lead. Unfortunately, the shutout was lost in the 69th minute, when another well-placed, high shot off of a free kick beat Maggie Lajza. Both the Lady Rams and the Lady 'Canes had some more chances over the next few minutes, but it was Emily Dowd who, through a forest of Lady Rams defenders, saw Carson Simonton making an unnoticed run behind the defense. Passing the ball through the only hole in the defense, Dowd found Carson in full stride for a decisive and unforgiving 77th minute strike, for the fifth and final goal of the night for the Lady 'Canes, and Carson Simonton's well deserved third goal of the season. It was with that final goal that the Lady Rams, who had played so well and fought so hard, came to grips with the inevitability of the evening.
 

The midfielders, led by Hannah Kurdila, Carson Simonton and Maggie Swanbeck, whose move from defense to midfield was required by injuries to midfield regulars Stephanie Clark and Aimee Howe, played unbelievably well. The entire midfield rose to the occasion, working all game long to support both the offense and the defense. And it was the constant movement in support of the attack by Lexie Miller that allowed Hannah Kurdila to press up as hard as she did. In fact, the midfield played so well, that two of its number, Simonton and Woods, scored the first and last goals of the evening. Even Aimee Howe, struggling back from an injury, was able to play a very effective role in the midfield for the few minutes she was on the field.
 

The Freshmen, Megan Foster and Tori Buono in defense, and Kelly Powell and Jessica Otto in midfield, all played exceptionally well. Kelly and Jessica both came in as substitutes and fit right into the system, never missing a beat. In fact, Tori Buono made a run out of the defense with the ball, beating four Lady Rams before passing off to Hannah Kurdila for a shot that would become the rebound Dowd collected for the Lady 'Canes fourth goal of the night.
 

Even the lone forward, Emily Dowd, put pressure on the defense this game, forcing them to make sloppy clearances that were quickly turned into offensive opportunities. In fact, this was a true team win, and not an anomaly, but rather an orchestrated team effort combined with each individual playing to her personal potential. This game was not a case of facing a weak opponent or a team with an "off night." The statistical parity, or in some cases a shift toward the Lady Rams, shows that the Lady Rams played their very best. However, the Lady 'Canes proved they are the class of the District, and if they play as they did against Eastside, they can go far. And in this case, "far" should be defined as "Lockhart Stadium, Ft. Lauderdale."
 

The Lady 'Canes next face Regional opponent, the Bartram Trail Lady Bears on Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 2:00 PM.
 

Gainesville Sun game summary: GHS girls soccer player breaks area record.
 

 GHS Varsity Loses Key District Game (14-Dec-07) 
 

A key District home game the Lady 'Canes needed to win ended with a hard defeat, costing the GHS their fourth loss of the season, their second loss in District play, and, probably, the second seed in the District touranment.
 

Opening with a well-orchestrated attack, the Lady Wildcats put pressure on the Lady 'Canes from the opening whistle. This caught the Lady 'Canes off balance, and the transition from offense to defense seemed to trouble the Lady 'Canes, and it cost them just a 4 minutes into the game, when a 5-on-3 Lady Wildcats attack resulted in a sharp cross from the right wing was slammed home on a worm-burning volley for the first goal of the game. Although the Lady 'Canes were able to answer the many of the Lady Wildcats runs with counterattacks, they never really had a clear chance on goal. Then, at the 25th minute, another cross was put in high, and knocked in to put the Lady Wildcats up 2-0. The GHS offense went to work trying to whittle away the deficit, but most of the shots were high or wide of the mark. Only two shots made it on-frame for the Lady 'Canes, but were easily saved by the Lady Wildcats' goalkeeper. The transition to defense was wanting again just ten minutes before half time, as another lopsided attack pulled the Lady 'Canes defense out of position. When the Lady Wildcats forward took her shot, it glanced off the shin of a Lady 'Canes defender attempting to block the shot, and the high, arching deflection found a way over Lady 'Canes' goalkeeper, Maggie Lajza, for the third score of the evening.
 

Things did not improve in the second half, although the Lady 'Canes attack did get more chances. What was to be a more equal battle, tipped to the Lady Wildcats the 54th minute, when another slow midfield transition to defense allowed another lopsided Lady Wildcats attack that saw one of their forwards get a free shot on goal that beat Maggie Lajza high to the far post for a 4-0 Lady Wildcats lead. From then on, a frantic Lady 'Canes attack tried to bring the game back, tallying thirteen shots, four of them on-frame. The ever-successful Kurdila-Dowd combination appeared in the 57th minute, when Hannah Kurdila chipped in a perfect free kick that Emily Dowd headed into the Lady Wildcats goal. That sparked hope for the Lady 'Canes, who on three subsequent assaults on their opponent's goal forced two spectacular saves from the Lady Wildcats' goalkeeper. The last shot for the Lady 'Canes was a far post rocket that froze the Lady Wildcats' goalkeeper, but whistled inches past the post for a goal kick. With that, the Lady 'Canes faced their first loss at home for the season, downed by the Lady Wildcats 1-4.
 

The Lady 'Canes next face the Flagler Palm Coast Lady Bulldogs on Wednesday, December 19 at 7:30 PM.
 

 GHS Varsity Shuts Out Lady Knights (12-Dec-07) 
 

The theme of the evening was complete dominance. The JV Lady 'Canes set the standard by completely dominating their game against the JV Lady Knights. The Varsity Lady 'Canes were not about to be outdone, and continued the theme through to the unexpectedly early end to the evenings play.
 

With goals in the first and second minutes of the game, the Lady 'Canes clearly stated their intensions to the visiting Lady Knights. Scoring was opened by the ubiquitous combination of Hannah Kurdila and Emily Dowd. Once again, a quick combination between the Kurdila and Dowd ended with Dowd pushing an easy through pass to Hannah, who punched home an uncontested goal to put the Lady 'Canes one up one at 32 seconds into the game. Just 40 seconds later, the always attacking Stephanie Clark pushed an easy through pass to Emily Dowd for the second goal of the game. The flurry continued with three Lady 'Canes' shots skipping of the top of the Lady Knights' crossbar in minutes 4, 5 and 6. The 7th minute brought the third goal, with Carson Simonton laying on a nice ball for Hannah Kurdila, who finished it perfectly. In fact, the first three goals were so quickly executed and the play so flawlessly subtle that the crowd had a delayed reaction, barely noticing a goal had been scored until the Lady 'Canes started celebrating. The Lady 'Canes attack cooled a bit after that, with several promising runs at the Lady Knights defense called back on five off-sides. On defense, the Lady 'Canes were virtually untested, with Maggie Lajza touching the ball only once on a harmless roller back to the penalty area. Gena Adams pressed her defense up the field, more in support of attack than in actual defense. After a couple of adjustments midway through the first half, the Lady 'Canes offense went to work again, forcing two saves out of the Lady Knights' goalkeeper until the 25th minute, when the ever-opponent-annoying Dowd-Kurdila combination struck again, with Kurdila this time feeding a through ball to Emily Dowd for Emily's second, and the Lady 'Canes fourth, of the game. With that fourth goal, the Lady Knights, like their JV, bunkered into defense to weather the rest of the storm until half-time.
 

The second half of play seemed destined for full play, with the Lady Knights launching their first organized attacks of the game. An attack down the Lady Knights' right side resulted in their first of three shots on the night, forcing a timely save by backup goalkeeper Jaymi Bautista-Geiger to keep the shutout intact. All that faded when the storm returned, more intense than ever. In the 44th minute Carson Simonton earned her second assist of the evening with a long, accurate throw-in behind the defense to Stephanie Clark, who ran on to the ball and beat the Lady Knights goalkeeper for a near post goal. Two minutes later Hannah Kurdila beat three defenders at the top of the box, and cracked off a shot that forced a great fingertip save from the Lady Knights' goalkeeper, who pushed the ball off the mark, and on to the post. A weak clearance of the rebound by her defense, however, left the ball at Lexie Miller's feet, and Lexie chipped in the sixth goal of the night right over the recovering goalkeeper and an onrushing defender. Two minutes after that, in the 48th minute, the Kurdila-Dowd duo returned to torment the defense, with a quick back-and-forth combination resulting Hannah pushing another easy through pass, allowing Emily Dowd to run past the defense for an easy one-on-one goal, completing her fourth hat trick of the season. At this point, the night only had six minutes left, and it came to an end with a perfect through ball by Kelly Powell to Hannah Kurdila, springing her loose for a one-on-one with the Lady Knights' goalkeeper, which Hannah comfortably converted to earn her third hat trick of the season. Hannah Kurdila, the player who opened the barrage, finished it in the 54th minute of play, when the referee blew the whistle to end the game by invoking the mercy rule.
 

With this win, the Lady 'Canes are one step closer to earning the second seed in the District. The Lady 'Canes continue District 4 play on Friday, December 14 at 7:30 PM, when they host the Forest Lady Wildcats at GHS.
 

 GHS Varsity Shuts Out Lady Tigers (06-Dec-07) 
 

It was two games in one, with the nearly one-sided all-Lady Tigers action of the first half completely juxtaposed by the total dominance of the Lady 'Canes in the second half. It was a game that required the Lady 'Canes to fight against the flow of play, keep their composure, and keep up a constant work rate in the face of a determined and frustrated opponent.
 

From the first whistle of the first half, the pressure on the Lady 'Canes goal by the Lady Tigers was relentless. The Lady 'Canes only made it out of their half of the field a handful of times, and most of those attacks were quickly repelled by the Lady Tigers defense, and turned into counterattacks. Maggie Lajza was forced to make 8 spectacular game-saving saves, all of them sure goals, just to keep the Lady 'Canes in the game. The turning point in the first half came on an indirect free kick in the Lady 'Canes penalty area on back-pass to the keeper. With the Lady 'Canes midfield seemingly unaware of the urgency of the situation and walking back to their defensive positions, the Lady Tigers restarted on a quick-kick, with the shooter blasting a point-blank range shot to Maggie's far post. Launching herself through the air, Maggie barely pushed the ball out of harm's way, where it was collected by the Lady 'Canes defense, and cleared out. That clearance was quickly turned into a counterattack, culminating with a perfect pass from Hannah Kurdila to Emily Dowd who expertly scored for the Lady 'Canes, completely against the run of play. The Lady Tigers did not relent, and Maggie was forced to make three more saves and suffered two bone-crunching collisions when she came out to smother one-on-one attacks. But once again, the Lady 'Canes were able to mount a quick counterattack, and this time Stephanie Clark provided Emily Dowd with the final pass for Emily's second tally of the night.
 

The Lady 'Canes went to half-time out-shot 9-to-5, and barely able to organize an attack. The defense was as strong as ever, with the back four doing their jobs expertly, with dogged play by Freshmen Tori Buono and Megan Foster, and a stalwart performance by Gena Adams. The midfield was having trouble organizing itself, struggling to get back on defense, and linking to the offense.
 

But all that changed in the second half, as the Lady 'Canes midfield found their stride and confidence, holding the Lady Tigers to inconsequential shots from middle distance, and allowed even a couple of Lady 'Canes defenders to make runs into attack.
 

At the start of the second half, it was clear that Lady 'Canes had fielded a different team. Going on the attack almost immediately, the Lady 'Canes started winning almost every ball in the midfield, and began harassing the Lady Tigers defense with run after run. Carson Simonton took over the right side of the field, and punctuated her dominance with a brilliant run to the touchline with the ball for a perfect cross to Aimee Howe, who punched an unstoppable header into the net for the Lady 'Canes third goal. Carson and Aimee combined once again only to have the ball stripped, but Emily Dowd was there to clean up, and scored after beating two defenders in the box. Hannah Kurdila wasn't done with her evening, either. Hannah had now made the center circle her personal property, and was orchestrating attack after attack. Having forced an attack into the Tigers penalty area, Hannah spotted Aimee Howe unmarked in the melee, and slipped her a perfect pass for Aimee's second goal of the night. Then Stephanie Clark got her second assist of the night on a perfect through ball to Emily Dowd, who cracked a 20-yard shot from the top corner of the penalty area to the far post, freezing the Tigers goalkeeper for her fourth and the Lady 'Canes sixth of the game. At this point the Tigers' frustration boiled over and CHS #15 earned a Yellow Card for foul language. This was followed shortly by a direct Red Card to CHS #18 for Serious Foul Play when she absolutely crunched Kelly Powell on a very late slide tackle. The situation was compounded when CHS #4 was sent off with a direct Red Card for Foul and Abusive Language toward the referee. The final card of the slide-tackling incident was to the Lady Tigers HC for Unsporting Behavior. Emily Dowd punctuated the Lady 'Canes second half dominance, when she picked up a missed clearance by the Lady Tigers defense, and blasted it home for her fifth score, and the Lady 'Canes seventh, of game. There were a flurry of attacks after the seventh goal, but the Lady 'Canes couldn't get any more past the Lady Tigers goalkeeper.
 

After the final whistle, the Lady Tigers exited the venue without shaking hands, and only the Lady Tigers AC crossed the field, in order to lecture Lady 'Canes HC Kaufmann on sportsmanship.
 

The Lady 'Canes continue District 4 play on Tuesday, December 11 at 8:00 PM, when host the Vanguard Lady Knights at GHS.
 

 GHS Varsity Beats Trinity Catholic Lady Celtics (14-Nov-07) 
 

The Lady 'Canes returned to winning form with a 3-1 victory over the Trinity Catholic Lady Celtics. Although the Lady 'Canes had the majority of the attacking play, the Lady Celtics were able to organize a few serious offensive sequences that came close to scoring. The lone goal the Lady Celtics did score was not one of them.
 

The first half saw a flurry of activity in the Lady Celtics half of the field and in their penalty area. Several Lady 'Canes shots sailed high or wide of the goal, as they struggled to find the mark early in the game. The Lady Celtics were kept at bay by an organized Lady 'Canes defense, who required Maggie Lajza's intervention only once on a spectacular fingertip save. In fact, the defense got in the attacking act several times, with some brilliant runs by Maggie Swanbeck out of defense that caused the Lady Celtics problems every time. Meanwhile Gena Adams did a yeoman's job keeping the defense together while making her own contributions to the Lady 'Canes offense. But it was not enough, and the first half ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
 

However, the second half was far more exciting. The scoring started off with a purposeful run by Carson Simonton down the right side that left her one-on-one with the Lady Celtic's keeper, but at an odd angle. Not to be deterred, Carson ripped a powerful shot on frame that the keeper was lucky to parry, but Hannah Kurdila, following up the shot, pounced on the rebound for the Lady 'Canes first goal. This marked a good start for Hannah, who had a hand in all three goals scored by the Lady 'Canes.
 

Barely having time to savor their one-goal lead, the Lady 'Canes were hit with a controversial penalty, with two officials calling different fouls on different players on the same play. Unable to come to a consensus on what foul was actually committed, a penalty was awarded, although no cards were issued. The Lady Celtics #14 struck home the penalty to tie the game 1-1.
 

After the penalty, except for one serious attack, it was all Lady 'Canes the rest of the way. The tie-breaker was a smart run by Emily Dowd that split the defense, allowing Hannah Kurdila to push through a pass that left Emily one-on-one with the keeper for an elegant goal slotted inside the left post. With a two-to-one lead, the Lady 'Canes put the game out of reach with a late goal when Aimee Howe took a Hannah Kurdila square pass, and, from 20 yards out, fired a high arching shot out of the goalkeepers reach.
 

The Lady 'Canes return to District 4 play on Friday, November 16 when they play Forest in Ocala at 7:00 PM.
 

 GHS Varsity Finishes Fourth At Timberwolf Classic (10-Nov-07) 
 

The Lady 'Canes were unable to defend their two consecutive tournament titles, finishing fourth out of eight teams in the Silver Division, and eighth out of sixteen teams overall at the prestigious Timber Wolf Classic in Tallahassee (link), suffering their first losses of the season. Their final record was 1-2.
 

The tournament started well on Friday with a 7-1 win over Pensacola Lady Tigers. Six goals were scored in the first half, with the first tally in just the first 5 minutes of play by Hope Woods (Gena Adams), followed by Hannah Kurdila 3 minutes later, Emily Dowd in the 12th and 24th minutes, Stephanie Clark (Emily Dowd) in the 19th, and Aimee Howe (Dowd) in the 34th minute. The second half saw much the same activity, although not as many finishes, and the Lady Tigers were able to pull a goal back in the 45th minute. However, Hannah Kurdila added her second goal of the game in the 62nd minute to punctuate a decisive 7-1 win.
 

Saturday did not bode so well for the Lady 'Canes, as the lost the day's opener, a defensive struggle, against the Manatee Lady Hurricanes by a score of 1-2. Manatee took a 0-2 lead scoring one in the 25th minutes and another in the 54th. The Lady 'Canes were finally able to answer with a goal by Emily Dowd in the 54th minute, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit, and the Lady 'Canes took their first defeat of the season. The defense did their best, though, with goalkeeper Maggie Lajza recording 6 saves to keep the Lady 'Canes in the game.
 

The day didn't improve, as the Lady 'Canes dropped their final match of the tournament, and second of the season, 0-1 to the Lincoln Lady Trojans. This game was truly a defensive struggle, remaining 0-0 throughout most to the game. It wasn't until the 62nd minute, with 8 minutes left in the game, that the Lady Trojans scored on a set piece play. Despite Maggie Lajza's 7 saves during the game, the lone goal was enough to defeat the Lady 'Canes.
 

The Lady 'Canes next face the Trinity Catholic Lady Celtics on Wednesday, November 14 at 7:30 PM at GHS for the 2007-08 Season Home Opener.