Girls Soccer: Lakeland Defeats Yorktown 2-1

Lakeland couldn't have had a better beginning in its contest at cross-town rival Yorktown on Wednesday, Sept. 15.

Lakeland's Taylor Baldassarri scored the first goal of the game three minutes and 21 seconds into the contest before Michaela Furgeson scored, off an assist from Jackie Dwyer, at the 26:30 mark of the opening half.

Those two goals helped the Hornets pull out a very satisfying 2-1 triumph against the Huskers.

"It goes without being said, this is a big rivalry," Lakeland coach Jon Hourahan said. "A lot of players know one another from playing around and growing up with each other. I know the last two games we played against them, we weren't even close. This is just a huge victory for us. I am sure the next time around they will be ready and gunning for us."

While his team came up one goal short, Yorktown coach Rich Armstrong was able to appreciate what it meant to play the neighboring school.

"It's always nice to play Lakeland whether it's home or away, being that they are so close," Armstrong said.

Lakeland got close to the goal and put it in when Baldassarri, off a corner from Laurel Reed, scored.

"We just followed up the shot and got the rebound," Hourahan said. "We worked on practice yesterday just getting to the ball and finding a way to get a touch on it."

Allowing such an early goal clearly stun the Huskers.

"Emotionally, it affected us a lot," Armstrong said. "I will be the first to say, the girls came out very flat. I was hoping the first goal would fire them up but it really didn't."

Lakeland though was fired up and continued its play when Furgeson scored to put the Hornets up 2-0.

"That was a huge goal to go up that early 2-0," Hourahan said. "We just wanted the ball and just kept pressuring them. That was a key goal, especially when you consider the fact that they scored before the half to make it 2-1."

The goal that pulled the Huskers to within one with just two minutes remaining in the opening half was scored by Colson Campbell.

"That goal was big," Armstrong said. "I made a lot of subs and those girls off the bench played extremely hard. They played with the intensity that we needed and they were able to get a goal."

Armstrong said he was proud of Campbell's effort.

"Her goal gave us the edge coming into halftime," Armstrong said. "I kept those same group of kids in and they did a great job."

Yorktown though could not get any closer, thanks to a stingy Lakeland defense backboned by goalie Michelle Amato, who made 10 saves.

"I thought she played outstanding," Hourahan said. "She may have made one or two mistakes but you can't ask much more of a sophomore."

On Armstrong's end, he couldn't have asked any more of his substitutes.

"I was glad to see when those kids went in, they worked real hard," Armstrong said. "If it weren't for them off the bench, we certainly wouldn't have got the game to within one and had a chance to win."