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A familiar fight
By KEITH NIEBUHR, Times Staff Writer The second-seeded Panthers (15-5-1) play the top-seeded Hurricanes (18-2-1) tonight at 7:30 in the Class 2A, District 7 final, marking the fifth straight year they have battled for the title. Citrus won each of the previous four championship meetings, and has a 16-0-2 series lead. The ties came during the 1995-96 season, the first for girls soccer in Citrus County. "It's a fun game to play," Lecanto coach Kevin Towne said. "It's usually a back-and-forth battle. We've been very consistent through the years, but we just haven't beaten Citrus." Neither team was at its best in the semifinals. Lecanto needed penalty kicks to defeat third-seeded Dunnellon 1-0. Citrus edged Crystal River, whom it beat 6-0 twice during the regular season, 1-0. "We've had our ups and downs this year, but the girls seem to hang in there," Towne said. "Against Dunnellon, we could have folded our tent, but we fought hard until the end." Citrus has 1-0 and 4-0 wins against Lecanto. In the first meeting, Panthers keeper Trisha Chenoweth had 15 saves, but it wasn't enough. Hurricanes keeper Laura Woythaler (seven saves) stopped point-blank shots in the 62nd, 68th and 75th minutes, and Citrus scored on forward Sonya Segars' goal in the 16th minute. The 'Canes outshot Lecanto 24-10. The second game never was close. Citrus had a 26-3 shots edge, and four players scored. "It's totally mental with them," Chenoweth said. "I think we're equally talented, it's just whoever wants it more. If we go out and play Lecanto soccer and play with heart, the way we know we can play, we can beat any team." The Hurricanes might be a bit vulnerable. They are without injured forward Jessica Macdonald, the squad's leading scorer. She has a team-best 28 goals. Without Macdonald, most of the offensive load will fall on midfielder Amber Presnick (21 goals, 16 assists). Citrus, held to 16 shots by Crystal River, can't afford a repeat performance. The Hurricanes' offense gets the headlines, but their defense traditionally is among the area's best. They have all-area defenders in Danialle Coates and Whitney Gelin, who attack opposing offenses and protect Woythaler. "They both have the mentality that they're going to defend the goal, and they take pride in doing that and getting shutouts," Citrus coach Brady Bogart said. "Once a streak gets this far, it might start getting mental on both sides, but our defense has been the difference. They haven't scored many goals on us over those years."
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