Celebration falls 16-15 to Windermere in playoffs
A valiant second half comeback fell just short as the Celebration girls lacrosse team dropped a 16-15 decision to Windermere in a Class 2A, Region 2 quarterfinal game Friday.
Celebration, the dominant District 7 champion, saw its season end with a 13-4 record. Windermere, now 13-5, will move on to play second-seed Hagerty in the semifinals.
The Storm jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game on goals by Erin Beah-Balbontin and Alaya Moffitt but the Wolverines would score five of the next seven to grab a 5-4 advantage – a lead they would not give up for the rest of the game.
Still, the Storm kept it close as an Abilgail Locher goal cut the Windermere lead to one at 8-7 with 1:36 remaining in the half. But Lauren Pfleger scored her fourth goal of the half with 48 seconds remaining as Windermere took a two goal lead into the half.
The first 17 minutes of the second half proved to be decisive for Windermere. Controlling most faceoffs, Windermere out-scored Celebration 8-4 to build a four-goal lead with just eight minutes remaining, 15-11.
“We have been down by four goals before and I told our kids at the water break to keep their composure,” Storm coach Laura Jones said. “When we went back on the field, we started to control momentum. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get that last goal we needed to even the score.”
Locher and Moffitt would lead the comeback. A Locher goal would cut the deficit to 15-12 and then following a turnover, Moffitt would drive the middle of the field and bury a ball into the lower left corner of the net to make it a 15-13 lead with 6:10 remaining. Celebration would control the faceoff and Moffitt would take a perfect pass from Locher in front of the net and she was able to beat goalie Eva Dubasek on a bounce shot as the Storm closed the gap to one with five minutes remaining.
The teams would trade goals and with one minute and 40 seconds to go. But the Storm would miss a penalty shot and although they retained possession they would eventually turn the ball over in front of the Windermere goal. The Wolverines would take control of the ball and run the clock out for the win.
For the game, Celebration had a balanced scoring attack as Locher had five goals and Moffitt and Beah-Balbontin had four each; while Abria Moffett tallied twice on offense. Windermere’s Pflegler led all players with six goals.
Although Windermere controlled possession and pressured the Storm defense for the majority of the game, Celebration goalie Isabella Phillips kept the game in reach by recording 13 saves. “Isabella is a young goalie that has shown continued improvement as the season wore on,” Jones said.
Jones added that although the Storm went to 0-6 all-time in regional playoff games, she was pleased with her team’s effort and looked forward to the future.
“This is the closest we’ve ever come to winning a regional game,” she said. “Most of our offensive firepower tonight came from younger players and I know we have a lot of talented players coming up from the youth program. I think we have a chance to put outstanding teams on the field for the next couple of years.”
Locher and Moffitt, who finished the season 47 and 38 goals respectively, are just freshmen and Beah-Balbontin, who finished with a team-leading 51 goals, has one season left.
