MULBERRY — In a spirited, and evenly matched game for the Class 2A, District 10 boys soccer championship, Lake Placid found one small crack in Mulberry’s defense and turned into a 1-0 win over the Panthers Friday night at Mulberry High School.
The win for the Green Dragons (13-5-2) avenges two regular-seasons losses to Mulberry (15-5).
Both teams will advance to next week’s Class 2A regional quarterfinals in Wednesday. Mulberry will be on the road at Clearwater Central Catholic, which beat Berkeley Prep in penalty kicks. Lake Placid will be at home against Berkeley Prep.
“We had our chances,” Mulberry coach Chris Crawshaw said. “We’ve got to finish better, but hey, our season’s not over. We’re still in it, we’re still going to the playoffs and at this point, that’s what matters. If we go win the next game, this game doesn’t mean anything."
After a scoreless first half that saw both teams have numerous attacks on goal that were turned away, Lake Placid’s Alejandro Villagomez scored the game’s only goal on a rebound of a shot off a throw-in with 34:59 left in the game.
The Panthers, who had more than 20 shots, had four good chances to score in the final 15 minutes, including one missed shot at an open goal, but could not convert.
“It just wasn’t our night,” Crawshaw said. “You beat a team twice, it’s hard to beat them three times. But our season’s not over by any means. We’re not done.”
Mulberry beat Lake Placid 4-1 and 1-0 during the regular season.