In an action-packed game full of twists and turns, the Montverde Academy's girls' soccer team edged out Lake Mary High School with a nail-biting 4-3 victory on Saturday night to stay undefeated on the young season as the Eagles are now 3-0 this year.
Montverde Academy started strong, dominating the first half with three unanswered goals. Luisa Tannus opened the scoring with a precise strike at the nine-minute mark, followed by another goal just under eight minutes later at 16:59. Then Lola Rey added to the lead by finding the net on a free kick at 23:43, securing a comfortable 3-0 advantage by halftime.
Lake Mary, however, was far from finished, and the Rams staged a ferocious comeback early in the second half, scoring three rapid-fire goals in just over three minutes of action. Their scoring frenzy began at 45:47 and ended at 48:52, stunning the Eagles and equalizing the game at 3-3 within the blink of an eye.
"We have a lot of young players, we're throwing them in the mix and they're doing a great job so far," head coach Robbie Aristodemo said. "We'll learn from what happend tonight. Sometimes you get a little comfortable when you have a lead like that, you think everything is easy, and credit to Lake Mary. They came back, gave us a lot of problems, but we came through in the end and it was an exciting win for the group."
Despite the seemingly sudden shift in momentum, the Eagles regrouped and found the game-winning goal with just over ten minutes remaining. The hero was Tannus who completed her hat trick at 69:51, capitalizing on a perfectly placed pass from Ale Jimenez right in front of the net. The decisive goal capped off an outstanding performance by Tannus, who proved crucial to the Eagles' success.
"It was a tough game, we worked hard and got four goals," Tannus said. "The team worked hard together and without them we couldn't do this."
Goalkeeper Alyssa Strausbaugh played a key role in preserving the victory, making five important saves throughout the game.
Montverde Academy will look to continue its season opening win streak in its next game against Windermere Prep on Tuesday at 4:00 pm.
