Oviedo’s girls lacrosse team is enjoying a historic season that could take the streaking Lions (18-1) all the way to the Class 2A final four.
“It’s one of those years where everything kind of clicked,” said Scott Dean, Oviedo’s coach since 2017. “Everybody plays a role. It’s perfect the way things have come together.”
That includes the Lions’ position in the state tournament bracket. Oviedo earned the No. 1 seed in Class 2A Region 2 as the No. 3 team in the FHSAA 2A rankings. That means the Lions are in position to play all three regional rounds at home as they seek the program’s second final four berth.
Oviedo went 15-8 in 2008 and reached the state semifinal round in the first year that lacrosse was sanctioned as a state championship sport by the FHSAA.
The Lions’ Wednesday region semi opponent is Winter Park, a team they defeated 20-9 in the regular season.
Oviedo has a relatively young team, counting on juniors Mia Palumbo, goalkeeper Riley Hoffman (68 saves) and Addison Steinebronn (32 goals, 9 assists); along with sophomores Savannah Fryzel (45 goals), Presley Krantz and freshman Cate Steinebronn (21 goals, 65 assists).
The Steinebronn sisters transferred in from Lake Howell as impact additions.
Brooke Craft, a senior who led the Lions in scoring with 53 goals, is no longer on the team.
“She was an impact player, but we’ve soldiered on,” Dean said.
The Lions have won 14 consecutive games since losing 15-3 against Lake Mary, which is ranked No. 2 in 2A — one slot ahead of Oviedo.
The Rams have a bigger obstacle to overcome to reach the state tournament. They are in Region 1 with top-ranked Ponte Vedra (13-3).
Lake Highland Prep (17-2) is the second-ranked 1A team.
Here are Wednesday’s region semifinal pairings. Winners advance to Saturday finals, hosted by the higher seed.
No. 4 Bartram Trail (10-9) at No. 1 Ponte Vedra (13-3)
No. 3 Edgewood (13-2) at No. 2 Berkeley Prep (10-2)
Lake Nona’s girls and boys swept their quarterfinal matches against Spruce Creek, 5-0, at Sanlando Park to open the three-day Class 4A state tournament on Monday.
Lake Highland Prep, playing at Red Bug Lake Park, also cruised, with its youthful boys team blanking Jacksonville Bolles 5-0 in a 2A quarterfinal. The Highlanders girls also opened with two doubles wins. Its afternoon singles matches were not finalized in time for this report.
Boone junior Jordyn Gomez, undefeated coming in, won on a tiebreaker 7-5, 3-6 (10-4) against Koreena Hickey of Venice in the first round of the 4A girls individual singles bracket.
Bishop Moore junior Lucas Magro scored an upset 6-3, 6-0 win against Alexander Zelenov of Miami Gulliver Prep in the first round of the 2A individual singles bracket. Zelenov was the No. 4 seed.
Lake Nona’s boys, reigning state champs, dominated. Minat Koido won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Shaurya Tandon did the same at No. 5. That followed 4-0, 4-0 wins in No. 1 doubles by Koido and Krukik Vihan and No. 2 doubles by Dhanvin Sarla and Niko Saulovic.