Senior Dexter Wiley scored four goals and assisted on two more to lead Men’s Lacrosse to a 16-9 victory over visiting Lake Nona. DP, 4-0 for the first time in school history, overcame a four-goal deficit early in the first quarter and clawed their way back to tie the game at 4-4 heading into the second. From there on, DP outscored the Lions, 12-5 to win going away. Senior goalie Craig Jackson finished with 20 saves, nine in the critical second quarter alone. In the third quarter, the Panthers took advantage of penalties and pulled away for good. Brett Forward and Ryan Totten scored three goals each and assisted on three more while freshman Ian Decker scored twice and notched three assists. Lucas Cassas scored twice with a pair of assists as well. Of DP’s 16 goals, 14 were off assists. In JVLacrosse action, DP improved to a perfect 3-0 with a gritty 4-2victory over Lake Nona. Steven Weatherford led the pace with three goals, Mac Baxter scored a goal, Connor Jackson tallied eight ground balls and Michael Sesay registered an assist. Both teams will head up to Wekiva March 6th.
Women’s Tennis captured four of five singles matches and split doubles for a 5-2 victory over West Orange to improve to 8-1 on the season. Sarah Baron returned to the line up and made quick work of her opponent in line one, 8-1. In line two, Zoe Monge picked up an 8-1 win while in lines three and four, Sara Veugeler and Tyler Brown broughthome 8-5 victories. Jasmin Stephney got the call in line five but fell in a marathon match, 8-9 (3-7). Baron and Monge teamed up in line one doubles for an 8-2 winwhile Veugeler and Brown came up short in line two, 8-9. Tatiana Fernandez and McKenzi Heide picked up a 6-1 victory in exhibition doubles.
In a match that seemed to have every line go down to the wire, DP Men’s Tennis had just a little bit more in a 4-3 victory over West Orange. Peter San Pedro returned to line one and came home with an 8-6 victory while Cooper Vissers doubled up his opponent in line two, 8-4. Izzy Almontaser rolled in line three,8-3, while the doubles team of San Pedro and Vissers sealed the team victory with an 8-4 decision in line one.
The pre-game hype surrounding the top two Men’s Water Polo teams in Central Florida lived up to its billing but didn’t end in DP’s favor. Second-ranked Winter Park rallied for four straight goals inthe second half to up end top-ranked DP, 16-13. Ryan Staton led the Panthers (4-1) with five goals while JackOrchard and EvanStaton added three apiece. In the first quarter, freshman Evan Staton put the Panthers on the board first with a beautiful spin move and fired into the left corner at the 6:46 mark. Winter Park answered quickly, however, tying the score at 1-1 less than 30 seconds later before senior Jack Orchard went on a first quartertear. With 6:05 to go in the period, Orchard caught a pass on theleft side, rolled towards the middle and ripped a shot into the upper right corner for a 2-1 lead. DP couldn’t pull ahead by more than a goal early on but continued to have success from all angles. Junior Reed Davis’ blast from the right side deflected off the keeper into the net for a 3-2 lead at 3:53. The Wildcats responded with two goals to take a 4-3 lead butEvan Statonpulled the Panthers even. Driving in from the right side and seemingly tackledin the process, the rookie rolled onto his back, slid into the middle and fired a skip shot into the back of the net to knot it up at 4-4. Jack Orchard drew the Panthers level again with 1:07 left with a spectacular backhand whip andclosed out the scoring with a power play goal from the point to put thePanthers up, 6-5, with 11 seconds left in the quarter. A furious firstquarter gave way to a defensive battle in the second. After Winter Park pulled ahead by a goal, senior Charlie Barnett fielded a crossing pass and rocketed it into the left corner to tie things up at 7-7 with 2:26 left. Ryan Staton came alive with three straight goals in just over a minute. Jack Orchard’s pass from the point gave Staton a wide open shot and the senior skipped it into the corner to pull DP even at 8-8. Just 41 seconds later, Orchard found Staton again from the right corner for a tying goal and the two mirrored the play 32 seconds later for a 10-9 DP lead at the half. Outof the break, Evan Staton gave DP a two-goal lead, their largest of the night but Winter Park shut the Panthers down offensively the rest of the quarter and tied the score at 11-11 heading into the fourth. After the Wildcats rallied to takea 13-11 lead, DP called for time with 4:58 left. Ryan Staton responded again off a crossing pass with a sensational shot from the left point to pull within, one, 13-12. Winter Park tacked on another goal moments later but Staton’s penalty shot into the lower right corner cut the deficit in half again, 14-13, with just 2:34 remaining. That was as close as the Panthers would come, however, as Winter Park added two insurance goals to close out thevictory.
Women’s Water Polo fell behind, 4-0, to top-ranked Winter Park in the first quarter and couldn’t recover in a 15-3 loss to the Wildcats. Winter Park stretched the lead to 7-0in the second quarter before Rachel Dytrych lofted a shot from the left point that dropped in the back of the goal to stem the bleeding temporarily. In the third quarter, Shannon MacNeil fired into the lower left corner for DP’s second goal with 2:14 left and added to her total with a five-meter penalty shot with 5:52 left in the game.
Women’s Lacrosse goalkeeper Mia Emmerson committed to play for Lees-McRae College in North Carolina. She is the first Women’s Lacrosse player in school history to sign a scholarship and will join at least five other student-athletes that will sign with their schools at DP’s April 11th National Signing Day ceremony!
Today’s Games:
Track and Field at UNF Invitational: TBD
Baseball vs. Boone: 4:00
Softball at Freedom: 4:30
JV Softball vs. Freedom: 4:30
JV Baseball at Boone: 6:00
Women’s Lacrosse vs. Apopka: 6:00 / 7:30
Saturday:
Baseball at Olympia: 10:00 AM / 1:00
