- January 10, 2026
Flagler Palm Coast players celebrate after defeating New Smyrna Beach to win the Five Star Conference girls soccer championship. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Makayla Barbel kicks the ball upfield. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC midfielder Isabella Kumernes leads three NSB players. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC players from left, Laura Herrera, Taci Cook and Marlee O'Fallon celebrate after defeating New Smyrna Beach in the Five Star Conferenc championship game. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Katherine Ouellette (9) and Hailey Sammons (17). Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC players run off the field after defeating New Smyrna Beach 2-0 to win the Five Star Conference championship on Jan. 9. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Five Star Conference girls soccer champs Flagler Palm Coast Bulldogs pose with the trophy. Courtesy photo by Hivi Dineas
FPC head coach Pete Hald and co-captain Hailey Sammons with the Five Star trophy. Courtesy photo
FPC assistant coach Cat Bradley and co-captain Skyler Strickland with the Five Star trophy. Courtesy photo
FPC defender Makayla Barbel (7) moves to the ball. Photo by Brent Woronoff
During the past two seasons, Flagler Palm Coast finished second in the Five Star Conference girls soccer tournament. On Friday, Jan. 9, the Bulldogs finally broke through the barrier, defeating New Smyrna Beach 2-0 for the Five Star championship and preserving their undefeated record for the season.
“We’ve been working since last May for this win,” junior forward/midfielder Hailey Sammons said. “I’ve been striving to win something. I don’t want to keep getting second.”
FPC did not allow a goal in the three tournament games and improved to 13-0-4 with two regular-season games remaining before districts, including the season-ender on Jan. 15 at Matanzas.
Being undefeated and winning the Five Star tournament is just amazing. And this being my senior year, it's so nice. I feel like all my hard work has paid off.”
— NATALIE NEAL, FPC goalkeeper
“Being undefeated and winning the Five Star tournament is just amazing,” goalkeeper Natalie Neal said. “And this being my senior year, it's so nice. I feel like all my hard work has paid off.”
Neal, a Daytona State College commit, recorded her third straight clean sheet and her eighth of the season. The top-seeded Bulldogs played all three tournament games at home, defeating Pine Ridge 8-0 on Jan. 6, blanking Spruce Creek 4-0 in the semifinals on Jan. 7 and defeating New Smyrna Beach (10-3-2) for the second time this season.
Junior Skyler Strickland scored the game's first goal with less than three minutes left in the first half. Katherine Ouellette added a breakaway goal about 12 minutes into the second half. At that point, the Bulldogs felt the title was within their grasp.
“I kind of got a little relief (after Ouellette’s goal),” FPC coach Pete Hald said. “Like, there's no way Natalie's giving up two goals. Just having her, you just feel comfortable.”
Strickland was held out of the Pine Ridge game and played sparingly against Spruce Creek after recovering from a bout with the flu.
“I gave (the team) the whole (winter) break off, and it might have been the best decision I made because we came back healthy,” Hald said. “We got (defender) Marlee O’Fallon back. We got Skyler Strickland back. Marlee had a serious hamstring injury. They both had the flu.”
Strickland scored her goal from the left side just outside of the 18-yard box.
“It was definitely surprising,” said the midfielder, who had scored one goal this season coming into the game. “I saw Hailey down at the 6-yard box, and I saw no one was around me, so I called for it. She looked up, found me, and I just knew I had to hit it right away before there was pressure. And then I watched as it floated over the top.”
She angled a shot that hit the crossbar and dropped in.
“Opportunities like that, you just got to take and hope for the best,” she said.
Hald moved Sammons to the front line to join wingers Lauralee Macleod and Ouellette to put pressure on the Barracudas’ defense, but New Smyrna goalkeeper Molly Andriola made several outstanding saves before Strickland put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard.
“I knew going into the game that we need to pressure their four backs, make them make mistakes.” Hald said. “I told them at halftime I was super happy with Skyler’s late goal, because of the work we put in for 40 minutes, because Hailey should have had a goal, Lauralee should have had a goal.”
Ten minutes into the second half, NSB put a ball in the net off a free kick, but the refs called offsides, waving the goal off. About three minutes later, Ouellette scored the Bulldogs’ insurance goal.
“Once we got up, we got more confident,” Sammons said. “But we knew we had to keep it up, we had to win this game. And we knew the last 40, 20 minutes, it’s all or nothing.”
Neal preserved the shutout with several big saves of her own. Her biggest, she said, came early.
“It was a 1v1. I think it was a very hard save,” Neal said. “I had to travel across the goal, because the girl was standing right there at the far post. My entire body was out. She hit it right to my legs. It was a nice shot.”
The Five Star title is FPC’s first since the conference went to a tournament in 2021. The Bulldogs broke Seabreeze’s four-year title streak. FPC edged NSB in consecutive semifinals, winning a penalty-kick shootout in 2024 and in double overtime in 2025. But the Sandcrabs beat the Bulldogs in the final in both years by 3-1 scores.
“This whole tournament has been a battle every year since I walked in as a freshman,” Strickland said. “So this feels amazing.”
Assistant coach Cat Bradley said the players are playing for each other, and they refuse to lose.
“We have an incredible group,” she said. “When you’re having fun, your athletes enjoy working hard and you make sure they know you believe in them, really good things happen. We believe in all of them, and we try to make sure that they all understand how important their role is. Confidence is huge for athletes, especially female athletes. These girls deserve it.”
