LCS girls fall in Class A final

By Jeremy Rasmussen
For the Sun-Sentinel

TAMPA - A year after losing in the first round of districts, American Heritage capped an incredible season with its first state championship-a 4-0 win over Lakeland Christian in Saturday's Class A final.

"The difference was our focus,'' Patriot midfielder Melissa Emmett said. "That's been our theme in states. Focus. We learned after last year that you're never guaranteed that next game. You have to put it all on the line every time.''

American Heritage (26-1) played arguably its toughest game on Thursday night, knocking off defending champion Clearwater Central Catholic 2-1 in the semifinals. But the Patriots had plenty left for the final.

During the first half, the Pats made the Viking penalty area their home away from home. By pressuring the ball in their offensive end, the Pats were able to create several scoring chances and outshoot the Vikings 12-3. In fact, each of their four goals was unassisted.

Holly Ryder scored the first of her two goals in the fifth minute, collecting a loose ball in the box and knocking it home. Shayla Ruddock repeated the feat in the 23rd minute. As did Ryder again in the 34th minute, and Andrea Radice in the 38th minute.

Each time, American Heritage swarmed in the box, Lakeland Christian failed to clear, and the Pats capitalized by putting away the loose balls.

"Our whole focus this year has been to play at top speed and never let up,'' Pats coach Christine Carlucci said. "Whoever goes in knows to run hard for 15 minutes, then take a five minute rest, then go back in and run some more. Never leave anything on the field.''

Amid the Pats' first-half offensive barrage, Lakeland Christian (26-3-1) had a pair of chances but could not convert. Once, Patriot goalie Brittni Goodwin stopped a hard free kick from the top of the box by Amber Gifford. Another time, Goodwin came out to stop Gifford on a breakaway and sent her flying.

Led by Renee Cagnina and Monica Savage, the bigger, more physical Patriot defense had little trouble winning balls from the Vikings in the midfield. Although Lakeland Christian had two 30-goal scorers in Gifford and Susan Wiechmann, neither was much of a factor. In fact, Viking coach Dean Johnson sent Wiechmann back to play sweeper in the second half.

"We could have come out in a defensive posture, but we wanted to see if we could go after them,'' Johnson said. "They were just stronger than us, quicker at spots, and more aggressive. They're a phenomenal team.''

This was Johnson's first trip to the state final as a girls coach. His Lakeland Christian boys teams have won the fall state title five times. With both American Heritage and Lakeland Christian returning nearly everyone from their squads next season, these two could see each other again.

For Heritage, it was vindication not only for last year's district debacle but also for a 1-0 overtime loss to Tallahassee MacLay in the 1998 state championship.

"We have essentially the same team, but we had more maturity and focus this year,'' Carlucci said.