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CRYSTAL RIVER - Junior Jon Lowe had two goals and an assist to lead Lecanto past Crystal River 4-1 in a Class 4A, District 9 boys matchup Wednesday.
The Panthers, who lost eight players from last season's 4A state championship team, improved to 4-0-0 overall and in the district.
"It's nice," Lecanto sweeper Kevin Griffin said. "It's good to know that we have the depth to keep things going."
Lecanto took the lead in the 13th minute when Dustin Elder forced a turnover inside the box and flipped it to Lowe, who pounded it home.
The Panthers had an open net in the 29th minute, but Daniel Eberhart's shot was blocked by defender Jarrod Green and cleared off the line. However, two minutes later, the Panthers struck when a Lecanto defender boomed a ball out of his end.
Two Pirates misplayed the ball, allowing Lowe to run between them and take the ball in for a breakaway and 2-0 halftime lead.
After Faubricio Leiva made it 3-0 off a Lowe assist, Richard Good capped Lecanto's scoring with a great individual effort.
The senior midfielder took a loose ball about 25 yards from the goal and knifed through several defenders. With just keeper Alex Crandall to beat, Good faked him out and boomed a right-footed shot into the top-left corner.
Crystal River (1-3, 1-2) scored in the 68th minute on Jon Livesay's penalty kick, awared after Griffin's foul in the box.
After the game, Columbus Crew forward and Crystal River alum Jeff Cunningham congratulated Lecanto for last season's title.
"This was a big game," Lecanto coach Doug Warren said. "It's always a big game between Lecanto and Crystal River. I mean, you have Jeff sitting over there on the sideline."
Girls: Hudson, Gulf tie
HUDSON - Two young teams struggled to find their rhythm as Gulf and Hudson tied at 1.
Hudson controlled much of the game, taking an early lead when sophomore Ashley Schuering scored with 17:50 left in the first half.
But Jennifer Fiorentino's long goal with 13:44 left tied it.
Cobras coach Paul Vescio said he was happy with his team's performance. But after a weekend of games leading up to Thanksgiving break, all he could do was let his team rest.
"They were beat up," he said. "After the Tarpon game, we were really down. (The team) is just getting going. We just played River Ridge, Tarpon Springs and Land O'Lakes, so this was our first chance after just getting healthy from that weekend."
But the Cobras still need improvement, he said.
"We've just got to learn how to finish, and we'll learn in each game as we go," he said. "We're predominantly a sophomore team. The breakaways that we had (Monday), we have to score on those."
"We score those goals, the game becomes a little different."
Gulf coach Shari Schau said she was not so pleased with her team's performance.
"We were lucky to get away with a tie," Schau said. "We didn't play well at all. We were asleep the first half, and they've played better. They played better against Land O'Lakes, and they beat us 8-0.
"I don't know if they're on vacation early."
Schau said she plans to have a few hours of practice during the Thanksgiving break to help fix the problems. The majority of the team is underclassmen, she said, and they need to learn to play together.
"We were getting beat on all the 50-50 balls," Schau said. "We were slow getting to the ball. I wasn't really happy with anyone at all."
- STEVE WATERS