- April 19, 2024
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Emotions were high Friday night, as the Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast girls soccer teams battled in a heavyweight competition.
Both teams came into the game undefeated. Matanzas entered without even allowing a single goal.
But Tanagna Payne’s goal about midway through the first half was all the Lady Bulldogs (6-0-1) needed to hand the Lady Pirates (7-1) their first loss of the season Friday, in a gritty, physical and rainy game at Sal Campanela Stadium.
FPC goalkeeper Leah Leach saved a penalty kick in the second half to secure the clean sheet and the victory for her team.
"I really believe that the better team did not win tonight,” Pirates coach Tony Benveunto said after the game. “We missed a PK, hit a post, and in the first half, we had two goals that we should have added. I give a lot of credit to Leach. But at the end of the night, we lost 1-0, and FPC got the win. I wish we were on the other side of that score."
Matanzas poured pressure into FPC’s defensive third in the final two minutes, but the Lady Pirates weren’t able to bag the equalizer.
"It was physical all game.” FPC coach Pete Hald said. “I don't think it got us out of our game, but I was a little disappointed that we had a couple easy opportunities in the first half and a couple in the second half.”
FPC’s game-winning goal came when Payne picked up the ball in the box and slipped it past Matanzas keeper Bella Benveunto, who didn’t allow a goal in the first seven games.
Hald said he knew both teams were going to have scoring chances. Fortunately, his team was able to capitalize on one.
“If you want to be a championship team, you have to finish,” Hald said. “And we had the chances before half, and both teams could have scored two or three more goals."
Perhaps Matanzas avoided an even larger loss, though. Lady Pirates forward Gabbi Paiz left the game in the first half after she collided knees with an FPC player. She was helped off the field, and it was initially thought that she suffered a serious ACL injury.
Paiz confirmed over the weekend, though, that doctors believe it’s a sprain. She was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday, but if it’s just a sprain, she will likely only miss a few days, she said.
“I still can’t put pressure on it,” Paiz said Saturday.
Freshman Miracle Porter, who has tallied 20 goals this season through the first eight games, injured her thumb and played the second half with it taped.
Hald said his team has its share of injuries, too.
“Hopefully we can recover,” he said. “We've got three games next week. We've got a lot more important games.”
— Andrew O’Brien contributed to this story.
