BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Most of us probably aren’t going to find a reason to celebrate if we’re outdoors in 40-degree weather wearing short sleeves and shorts, but if you win a district championship, that’s an entirely different matter.
The Keystone Heights High School girls soccer team scored three unanswered goals in defeating host Interlachen 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 26 to claim the District 4-3A trophy.
It was the Indians’ first district title in 13 years.
Keystone (8-11-3) automatically qualified for the Region 1 playoffs and will play a quarterfinal match on either Monday, Feb. 2, or Tuesday, Feb. 3. Brackets and matchups weren’t released by deadline.
Both teams had good shots at the goal in the first eight minutes, but were unable to find the mark. Keystone took two shots in the eighth minute, but Interlachen goalie Abigail Warren deflected the first and then made the save on the second.
The top seed Rams (13-7-2) put the first goal on the board in the 14th minute when Camryn Link connected on a direct kick just outside of the penalty box.
Interlachen’s Annabelle Lanahan made it 2-0 when she scored in the 23rd minute.
Time was running out in the first half, but the second seed Indians were able to get on the board in the 38th minute, with Ryleigh Thomas (who’s just a seventh-grader) putting the ball into the net. That sent the Indians into the break trailing 2-1.
Keystone took more shots on goal than the Rams in the second half, but Interlachen’s Warren kept the Indians off the board. She made three saves in the first eight minutes of the second half and finished with 15 on the night.
The Indians, though, did get one past Warren when Collins converted on a penalty kick in the 70th minute. That tied the match at 2-2.
If the score is tied at the end of regulation, two 10-minute overtime periods are played. Neither team scored in the first overtime period, but Keystone’s Kaylee Park found the net in the second minute of the second period. It would prove to be the match winner.
The Indians entered the tournament on a three-match losing streak, but they had no trouble reaching the championship match, getting two goals each from Thomas and Halea Lam in a 7-0 win over third seed North Marion in the Jan. 22 semifinals.
Keystone also got one goal each from Park, Kayden Huntley and Alyssa Townsend.
Huntley and Lam each had two assists, while Park, Kayle Buchanan and Tayler Buchanan each had one.
