Lakewood Ranch claims victory in rivalry kickoff

The Lakewood Ranch High boys soccer team proved it is still in the hunt for the top seed in the Class 4A-District 11 tournament after defeating rival Braden River 3-2 in a district match Jan. 6.

Jason Ferguson gave the Mustangs an early 1-0 lead before the Pirates’ Matt McNab scored off an assist by Danny Lane to even the game 1-1 at halftime.

Lakewood (7-1-3) reclaimed the lead on a goal by Ryan Sollazzo. Lane scored off an assist from Fabio Vasconcellos to pull Braden River (8-2) even. But the Mustangs’ Jimmy Jaime scored the game-winning goal off a cross from Bill Louberti with five minutes remaining in the game.

Across town, the Lakewood Ranch High girls team came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie rival Braden River 2-2 in district action.

Tyler Gordon scored on an assist from Morgan Salmon in the final minute to lift the host Lady Mustangs (10-3-2, 9-2-1) to a tie with their East County rivals.

Carly Provan scored both goals for the Lady Pirates (5-4-3 4A-11) off assists by Kayla Gray. Juliana Guida scored on an assist from Taylor Halligan with 17 minutes remaining to get Lakewood back into the match.
The Lady Mustangs finished second behind Venice in the final regular-season standings, while Braden River was third.