Lake Wales nets another girls district soccer title

AUBURNDALE — Lake Wales' patience paid off in a fourth consecutive district championship.

The Highlanders fell behind by two goals early in the second half, but scored the next four to take down the Bloodhounds with a 4-2 victory on in the Class 5A, District 8 girls soccer final on Wednesday night at Bruce Canova Stadium.

"I have said to them a lot of times that 2-0 is the most dangerous score in soccer," Lake Wales coach Michael Flood said. "Two to nothing is a score where the other team starts thinking like they have it, and if you score one goal the momentum changes."

That's exactly what happened for Lake Wales (9-6-1).

After falling behind 2-0 on goals from Auburndale's Brianna Brudy, one in each half, Lake Wales answered quickly.

Not even a minute after Brudy's second goal, Lake Wales' Ellie Unzueta got behind the Bloodhounds' defense and sent a shot into the back of the net to make it 2-1.

Lake Wales dominated the field after that, as Chanley Pfingston spearheaded a relentless second-half attack that finally saw Bailey Dykes net the game-tying goal with 4:11 left.

The Highlanders didn't wait long to get the game-winner as Unzueta sent a low-hard spinner shot that bounced off the goalkeeper's hands and just over the goal line for a 3-2 lead. 

Pfingston, who earlier missed on multiple chances both directly from her foot or to a teammate, sealed it in the second 10-minute overtime with 5:31 left. 

"Our team morale was a little low, we were a little off coming off such an easy win in the last game," said Pfingston, referring to Lake Wales' 8-0 semifinal win over Lake Gibson. "I don't think we were ready for quite such an aggressive defense and aggressive attack. Auburndale gave us a really great challenge. Once we got our bearings and started to play our game we really got into it."

Lake Wales will be at home in the regional quarterfinal against Sumner on Tuesday, while Auburndale will be on the road at Tampa Robinson.

If both teams win, they'll meet again in the regional semifinal in Lake Wales next week.