- March 27, 2026
Matanzas' Addison Alred celebrates the Pirates' 10-5 girls lacrosse victory over Flagler Palm Coast with her teammates. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas girls lacrosse seniors honored on Senior Night: Taylor Openshaw (17), Paityn Lawrence (12), Mia Apfelbach (10), Taylor Basiger (33) and Kenna Hardee (15) with coach Brandie Alred. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Brianna Long (8) carries the ball upfield as Matanzas' Kenna Hardee (15) and Trinity Johnston (24) defend. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mia Apfelbach (10) defends against FPC's Sofia Fretterd (center). Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Sofia Fretterd looks to pass to a teammate. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Trinity Johnston (24) come around from behind the FPC goal. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC senior goalie Emma Haggard (26) makes a save. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC senior Riley Nousaath. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Brianna Long (8) passes to teammate Riley Nousaath. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC middie Brianna Long (8) defends against a potential shot on goal by Trinity Johnston (left). Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Mia Apfelbach (center) is honored with her family during the Pirates' girls lacrosse senior celebration. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior Taylor Basiger is honored with her family and girls lacrosse coach Brandie Alred. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior Kenna Hardee is honored with her family and girls lacrosse coach Brandie Alred. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior Paityn Lawrence is honored with her family and girls lacrosse coach Brandie Alred. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior Taylor Openshaw is honored with her family and girls lacrosse coach Brandie Alred. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas girls lacrosse coach Brandie Alred has the Pirates’ program on the upswing. Flagler Palm Coast’s longtime coach, Katie Kastner, is excited about the potential of her young players.
It’s not easy running a lacrosse program in Flagler County, where the sport is essentially on an island. There are no high school lacrosse programs in neighboring Volusia County. And there is no feeder program in Flagler.
“We're kind of like a dry zone,” Kastner said. “(The players) come to us at the high school level, and they've never even seen lacrosse, let alone know how to play. So you're really starting from the ground up.”
Yet, both programs have experienced some success over the years as new players fall in love with the game and make up for lost time. Alred took over a team that was coming off multiple winless seasons and has led the Pirates to 16 wins in three years.
Matanzas’ 10-5 win over FPC on Wednesday, March 25, clinched the Pirates’ first winning record since 2016 when they went 14-4.
With the win over the Bulldogs on Matanzas’ Senior Night, the Pirates improved to 6-4 with one game left in the regular season on April 1 at Beachside.
“We clinched it,” Matanzas senior midfielder and co-captain Mia Apfelbach exclaimed. “Our first winning season in 10 years. We’re going to remember that for the rest of our lives.”
Sophomore Trinity Johnston and junior Addison Alred each scored three goals for Matanzas. Apfelbach and Amirah Kardas scored two goals apiece and senior Taylor Openshaw scored one goal.
Juniors Sofia Fretterd and Brianna Long scored all five goals for FPC. Fretterd scored three goals and Long scored two. Long also gained possession of eight ground balls and had six draw controls. Johnston won six draws for the Pirates, while Apfelbach had seven ground balls.
At halftime, the Pirates honored seniors Apfelbach, Taylor Basiger, Kenna Hardee, Paityn Lawrence and Openshaw.
It’s bittersweet, but it’s definitely fun to celebrate with my team. I’m going to miss them a lot next year.
— PAITYN LAWRENCE, Matanzas senior defender
“It was a very fun night but also a very sad night, because I’ll be leaving my team and moving to college,” said Lawrence, who is a defender and co-captain. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s definitely fun to celebrate with my team. I’m going to miss them a lot next year.”
With the win, the Pirates tied their all-time series with the Bulldogs at 11-11. Matanzas has won four in a row against FPC, including both games this season, and five of the last six. The Bulldogs had won five in a row before that.
The latest game was close into the third quarter when FPC pulled to within 5-3, but the Pirates scored five goals in a row to take a 10-3 lead with 6:58 left in the game.
“We just couldn't sustain through the 48 minutes,” Kastner said. “You're not going to win a game playing one or two good quarters. You got to play the whole 48.”
FPC fell to 1-9. The Bulldogs have only three seniors this year — Gianna Seifert, Riley Nousaath and goalie Emma Haggard — with most of their key players returning next year.
“We have a lot of young girls, a lot of good potential,” Kastner said. “Most of our attack’s coming back, two-thirds of our midfield is coming back, and we should have a good class coming in, so it's exciting.”
Brandie Alred said she was pleased with the Pirates' ball movement against the Bulldogs.
“They play hard defense and they play very aggressive,” she said. “So, the fact that we were able to keep the ball moving to keep their defense on their toes was great. That opened up a lot of different shots from different points, from the X from behind the goal, from the top, and we had some great fast breaks.”
FPC and Matanzas will play on the road in the District 4-2A quarterfinals on April 9. The other four teams in the district are all in Seminole County. But for one final night, the Pirates' seniors were able to celebrate at the Ship.
“I loved being with my team for the last home game,” Apfelbach said. “Tonight was such a memorable night, and I loved every moment of it.”
