American Heritage girls lacrosse cruises to semifinal win over Community School of Naples

KISSIMMEE — American Heritage (15-1) scored three straight goals in the first 90 seconds and cruised to an easy 20-5 win over Community School of Naples in a FHSAA Class 1A girls’ lacrosse semifinal at Osceola’s Austin-Tindall Park on Friday afternoon.

It was a dominating performance by the Stallions, who controlled nine of the first 11 draws and converted most of those into easy goals in building a 9-1 lead.  Community scored back-to-back goals to cut the gap to 9-3 midway in the period, but Heritage dominated the remainder of the half with four more goals to take a 13-3 lead into the half. 

About the only thing that went wrong for Heritage in the first half was when senior defenseman Sophia Caffrey fell awkwardly after stepping in a hole and injuring her ankle and shoulder in the fall.  She left the game and did not return.

The injury resulted in coaches meeting with game officials at the half, and the decision was reached to move the second half to an adjoining field.  “I’m not going to say anything about it except the officials made the right decision to move the game off that field,” Heritage Head Coach John McClain said. 

State preview:St. Andrew's and Jupiter boys, American Heritage girls prepare for state semis

Regional semifinal:Brooke Goldstein leads American Heritage girls lacrosse past Benjamin and into regional final

Much like the first half, the second half was more dominance by American Heritage.  The Stallions outscored Community 7-2 in the second half for the easy win.

Heritage was led by junior midfielder Payton Wainman, who scored five goals, sophomore attack Payton Bezjak scored four times and senior midfielder Ainsley Huizenga added three scores. Wainman, who scored the first two goals of the game, now has 37 on the season. 

“Super excited about the way we came out and played today,” McClain added.  “Obviously controlling most of the draws for us was a huge advantage, as possession is everything in lacrosse.  I told the girls we had one more game tomorrow to complete the mission.”

Heritage will meet the winner of Friday afternoon’s state semifinal game between top-ranked Lake Highland Prep (13-0) and sixth ranked Ponte Vedra (11-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Community, who finished its season with a 21-2 record, had two goals each from Amelia Byerly and Emma Smith.