On Thursday, Jan. 27, the Marjory Stoneman Doulgas High School women’s varsity soccer team went head-to-head with J.P. Taravella High School.

In the beginning, an invigorating 20 minutes passed with no change to the 0-0 score. Tensions rose as the minutes ticked by and the Lady Eagles became determined to score against the Trojans.

The Taravella Trojans had only took one shot in the entire first half, unsuccessfully following through. It appeared as if the only thing they could do was stand there as the Lady Eagles’ speed was too much to keep up with.

As MSD struggled to take shots, the end of the first half was approaching. Luckily, forward and midfielder Kendall Slack (18) took a long shot to score, making the score 1-0. On a power trip, the Lady Eagles quickly scored again, giving the Trojans whiplash as they gained momentum through their style of play.

Starting the second half, midfielder and forward Gianna Rizzo (9) delivered a great shot, showing amazing control with the ball. Steady passing and teamwork elevated the Eagles throughout most of the match.

Taravella was left breathless and rattled as the Lady Eagles took control, with several chances going in MSD’s favor. The Trojans’ defenders were much slower than MSD, almost lagging behind. The game went on to consist of more than an hour and a half of consistent play.

The performance from MSD was dominant, as Taravella’s attacks were quickly intercepted and gained any momentum. As a result, the game ended in favor of the Lady Eagles with a score of 5-0, another impressive win for the Lady Eagles as the Taravella Trojans could not keep pace.

The Eagles’ next game was in their district championship matchup against Coral Glades High School on Monday, Jan. 31.

Coral Glades came into the game with a record of 7-9-1 and had already lost to MSD once prior in the season. The expectation was for the Eagles to follow up their win against Taravella with a strong performance against the weaker Glades’ team.

However, from the kickoff at 6:00 p.m, the Jaguars proved to be a much more competitive opponent for a sluggish Eagles team. The teams exchanged shots in the first half and relied on defensive efforts to stay in the game.

The Lady Eagles were wasteful with the chances they were given, unable to convert and maintain possession of the ball lin the game.

“We had more opportunities but we couldn’t finish them, it was a hard fought game the whole time,” midfielder Morgan Goldman (13) said.

At the end of the second half, the score was 0-0, signifying that the game would enter overtime. With two very tired teams, the attacking effort was not clear; it seemed as if the game would enter penalty kicks.

Before the end of the extra time, an unexpected chance fell upon midfielder Layla Segelnick (15) who kicked an accurate shot to give the Eagles their first goal of the evening.

“In the moments leading up to the final whistle, I was praying that I would get the opportunity to score and when I did, I had a sigh of relief because all we needed to do was defend so they couldn’t tie up the game,” Segelnick said.

With a defense that would not offer Glades any space to score a goal, MSD stayed in control for the rest of the match. The Eagles’ defenders did not concede a single goal throughout the district playoffs.

“We were fortunate to keep a shoutout throughout districts by maintaining good communication and trusting one another on the field,” defender Lizzie Sheehy (4) said.

As the final whistle blew, the Eagles had won the district championship by a score of 1-0, their 4th consecutive district title.

After the match, the Eagles will wait to hear their opponent for the Regional Quarterfinal Playoffs, hosted at MSD on Tuesday, Feb. 8.