Junior Meredith Canty scored three goals, one each in the second, third and fourth quarters, to lead Women’s Water Polo to a 6-1 victory over Boone to give the Panthers their second District Championship in three years. Rachel Dytrych opened the game with the first of her two goals with a man advantage just 1:06 into the contest but DP (16-7) was silent for the remainder of the first quarter. In the second, Dytrych gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead on her second power play goal at the 3:09 mark and the team found some scoring rhythm when Canty buried a shot into the upper right 90 just 32 seconds later for a 3-0 lead. In the third quarter, DP pulled away steadily when Canty’s bar-in goal at 5:13 and a Katie Heffernan score from the point pushed the lead to 5-1 heading into the fourth. With 3:34 left in the game, Meredith Canty capped arguably her best game of the year with another bar-in goal off an assist from Dytrych for the 6-1 final. Mary Campbell had another solid night in goal, turning away 11 shots. The Panthers advance to the State Play-in game Tuesday, April 24th, against Lake Nona at the YMCA Aquatic Center.
Ryan Staton scored four first half goals while Bruno Ferreira and Ian Supra added hat tricks to lead Men’s Water Polo to a resounding 16-5 victory over Boone for their third consecutive District Championship. Staton put the Panthers (19-4) up for good with the first goal of the game just 31 seconds into the contest with David James, Charlie Barnett and Evan Staton following suit for a 4-0 lead. Jack Orchard’s shot into the upper right 90 just 17 seconds into the second quarter sparked an 8-0 run that included three more goals by Ryan Staton, a second goal by Charlie Barnett, Bruno Ferreira’s first and a pair of goals by Ian Supra. Up 12-3 at the start of the second half, Supra and Ferreira scored less than two minutes apart to make it 14-3 with 3:54 left in the third. Ferreira capped his hat trick off an assist by Anshul Devnani 49 seconds into the fourth quarter and Nate Hamner closed out the onslaught with a score just over a minute later to make it 16-4 before the final margin. Collin Brandt picked up seven saves in goal. DP will now focus on Tuesday’s State Play-in game vs. Lake Nona at the YMCA Aquatic Center.
Katherine Breese lead a contingent of seven multiple goal scorers as Women’s Lacrosse rolled to a 20-2 victory over Freedom in the District Semifinal. Breese notched four goals while Elizabeth Hales, Cymber Larkin and Michaela Decker scored three each. Ravene Moore, Asahi Hirano and Sarah Hamp added two scores apiece and Sydney Hughes rounded out the scorecard with a solo goal. Hales led the Panthers (13-2) with six assists, Hamp registered three and goaltender Mia Emmerson finished with three saves. DP will advance to tonight’s District Championship game vs. host Lake Nona at 6:00 pm.
Sophomore wide receiver Jade Cheek hauled in a career-high four touchdown passes and senior Shya Garrett returned an interception 60 yards for a score as Flag Football pounded visiting Olympia, 34-0. DP (10-0) has now registered six shutouts on the season and has won 20 straight games.
Tough night for DP’s Baseball and Softball teams as each suffered close defeats on the road. Down at Osceola, Baseball fell to the host Kowboys, 6-4, on their final regular season game of the year. Ryan Larson went 2-3 with a double in the loss. The Panthers (11-13) will host Cypress Creek next Wednesday in the District Semifinal at 4:00 pm. Softball traveled to Cypress Creek for the District Tournament and faced second-seeded Boone in the semifinal but they, too, came up short by a couple of runs in a 3-1 defeat. Jecoliah Pratt pitched her final game as a Panther and allowed only four hits while striking out five. Under new coach Dani Perrotti, the Panthers had a tremendous turnaround this year, finishing 15-9-1.
Senior Flag Football standout Shya Garrett was named Orlando Sentinel’s Athlete of the Week. Shya set the school record with ten receptions in DP’s 14-13 victory over second-ranked Seminole Ridge last week and is a major reason the team is undefeated this year. Garrett is the seventh Panther to earn the award this year.
DP players and coaches also won the following honors:
*
Men’s Weightlifting, senior Brad Bindas and junior Justus Griffith were named to the All-Metro West Conference team and senior Simon Sun earned Academic All-Metro Conference with the highest weighted GPA among all student-athletes.
*
Water Polo head coach Leo Ramirez was named the Metro West Conference Coach of the Year for both the men’s and women’s teams, marking the second consecutive year he has earned the honor for the men’s team.
*
Women’s Swimming and Diving team was named an Academic Scholar Silver Team by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) for having a combined unweighted GPA of 3.508.
*
Men’s Swimming and Diving (3.365), Women’s Water Polo (3.492) and Men’s Water Polo (3.409) all earned Academic Scholar Bronze team honors by NISCA.
DP’s Lacrosse teams take on Olympia (men) and Lake Nona (women) tonight in the District Championship and Flag Football hosts Apopka.
