Cooper Vissers and Peter San Pedro captured the Men’s Tennis State Championship in the doubles division this morning! The pair were scheduled to play the doubles team from Weston Cypress Bay but one of the players was unable to compete due to injury, which resulted in a default victory for the Panthers.
This is the first individual title for Vissers and the second for San Pedro, who won the Line 3 singles championship last year. San Pedro becomes the first DP Tennis player to win two state championships in his career!
At the YMCA Aquatic Center, top-seeded Women’s Water Polo, behind the strength of five goals by senior captain Rachel Dytrych, defeated fourth-seeded University, 18-2, in the District Semifinal. DP (15-7) opened up a 6-0 lead in the first quarter and extended it to 14-0 at the half. Dytrych scored four consecutive goals and senior Kate Pence connected on a pair in the second quarter as well. Freshman Jillian Goulden scored two of her three goals in the fourth quarter. Shannon MacNeil opened the game with a goal just a minute and a half in and added a second goal at exactly the same time in the second quarter to give the Panthers a 10-0 lead. Meredith Canty added two first half goals with solo scores tabbed by Katie Heffernan, Heather MacNeil, Emily Kliewer and Sunny Zhu. DP will host Boone tonight at 7:15 for the District Championship.
Men’s Water Polo may have been shorthanded but they certainly didn’t play like it in a 17-4 victory over Timber Creek in the District Semifinal. Senior captain Jack Orchard collected five goals in the first half alone and Bruno Ferreira opened up the scoring with consecutive goals just 30 seconds apart. Sophomore Ian Supra picked up a hat trick with three first half goals, Charlie Barnett skipped one in with 45 seconds left in the opening period but the score of the night went to goaltender Collin Brandt, whose pool-length heave found the back of the net as the buzzer sounded to give the Panthers a 7-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Wedged between multiple goals by Orchard and Supra, Austin Sellers picked up a pair of goals in the second quarter as the lead grew to 14-2 at the half. In the third quarter, Ian Perkins’ backhander accounted for the lone DP goal at 6:30 and in the final period, Brandon Burghard and David James closed out the scoring with solo goals for the final margin. DP (18-4) will host Boone for the District Championship tonight at 8:15.
In their first playoff appearance in program history, second-seeded Men’s Lacrosse overcame a 5-2 first half deficit and roared back to outscore third-seeded host Lake Nona, 9-1, the rest of the way for an 11-6 victory in the District Semifinal. With seven minutes left in the first half, the Panthers needed a spark…and they got it…when junior Austin Crocker found Dexter Wiley for one of his five goals on the night. Four minutes later, Brett Forward drove toward the goal and dished to junior Sean Cavanaugh, who blasted it into the back of the goal for his first score of the year, slicing the deficit to 5-4 at the break. It was all Dr. Phillips in the second half as they went on to score seven of eight goals to win going away. Forward finished with three goals and three assists, Ryan Totten picked up a goal and an assist, Doug Essig added a solo goal while Ian Decker picked up a pair of assists with Crocker and Edwin Wiley getting credit for assists as well. DP (12-3) will take on top-seeded Olympia Thursday at 8:00 pm in the District Championship,
More playoff action continues today with both Softball and Women’s Lacrosse in the District Semifinals. Track and Field will play for the District Championship on Friday.
