Girls Varsity Lacrosse: Lady Cowboys Lose To Spanish River High School

BY OLIVIA LEWIS

The girls prepared to play their third game of the week against one of the top lacrosse teams in the state, Spanish River High School. The Cowboys started to warm-up at 4:00, getting ready to play their hardest against the Sharks.

The Cowboys lined up in their positions waiting for their teammate to take the draw. The whistle was blown and Spanish River snatched the ball out of the air, taking it straight down to the goal. The Sharks performed a “draw and dump” play and scored an early goal. The Cowboys quickly retaliated and won the next draw. Senior Florence Andreiu ran the ball down and passed it to her teammate. The midfielders and attack players settled the ball down and rotated it around. Sophomore Olivia Lewis received the ball and waited for players to make cuts. She saw junior Crystal Williams wide open and passed her the ball. Williams went to take a shot but one of the Spanish River players got called for shooting space, giving Williams a free shot on goal. The whistle blew and Williams shot the ball right in between the goalies legs, making the score 1-1. Spanish River won the next draw and took it down to the attack. Cooper City’s defense pressed the girl’s hard and caused a turnover, moving the ball back up to the attack. Lewis ran the ball down behind the goal and waited for players to make cuts from the top. Andreiu sprinted in and Lewis threw the ball to her. Andreiu placed the ball to the upper right corner of the net, scoring the second goal for the Cowboys. “I think we have really improved from the beginning of the season to now,” Andreiu said. “We are finally starting to look like a team, and everybody is finally having fun together.” The Sharks began to dominate and quickly scored four goals, making the score 2-5. Andreiu won a draw and ran it down to the attack, passing it to her teammate. Junior Amanda Rivas saw Lewis open and passed her the ball. Lewis ran the ball in and shot to the upper right corner of the goal, making the score 3-5. The Sharks retaliated once again and scored another four goals. The half was coming close to an end when Rivas passed the ball to Lewis again, giving her an opportunity to take a shot. Lewis ran the ball down the middle of the field and shot in between the goalies legs, scoring the fourth goal for the Cowboys. Cooper City was able to score one more goal before the half ended, making the score 5-9.

Cooper City came out stronger in the second half, determined to beat Spanish River. Lewis won the draw and passed it to Rivas, who moved it down to the attack. Rivas saw an open shot on goal and drove the ball in, scoring the sixth goal for the Cowboys. Spanish River won the next draw and moved it down towards the Cooper City defense. They were able to draw a foul and scored a goal off of it. Lewis won the next draw and quickly passed it to Andreiu who ran the ball down. She waited patiently for players to make runs towards the goal. Williams was able to get away from her defender and received a pass from Andreiu. She wound up for a shot and made it, making the score 7-10. The Sharks won the next draw, but the Cowboys defense held their ground. Junior Kasey Allen caused a turnover and passed it to Lewis.  Lewis ran the ball all the way down and scored another goal for the Cowboys. “I think it was one of our best games as a whole and we played a very good game,” Allen said. “If there were a little less mistakes we would’ve beaten them since the score was so close.” Cooper City was giving it their all and fighting for every single ball. The Sharks began to fight back, and were able to score three quick goals, making the score of the game 8-13. Lewis won the draw again and drew her defender, opening up a pass to Rivas. Rivas ran the ball straight in, but a foul was called on the opposing player. Rivas had a free shot on goal and made it for the Cowboys. The game was going back and forth, both teams fighting for the win. Andreiu won the draw and took it towards the Shark’s defense. Williams was once again able to get away from her defender and received a pass from Andreiu. She went to take a shot, but a foul was called on one of the defenders. Williams lined up to take her shot on goal, waiting for the whistle to be blown. The whistle blew and she shot the ball, placing it perfectly between the goalies legs. The Cowboys began to dominate the draw, winning every single one for the rest of the game. Lewis won it and passed it to Rivas, who then passed it back to Lewis. She ran the ball in and scored another goal for the Cowboys, making the score 12-13. The Sharks were able to score two more goals after that. With less than a minute left in the game, Lewis won the draw and passed it to Andreiu. She passed to Rivas who sprinted it towards the net, trying to score another one before the game ended. She was successful and made the final score 13-15.

The Cowboys walked off the field with their heads high, proud to have competed so well against a team like Spanish River. “I really am super proud of us,” freshman Grace Barr said. “We were all having a down day, but with each others positive thoughts and never giving up, we played our hardest. We definitely should have won, but even though we lost we still had so much fun.”

Final Score: Cooper City 13, Spanish River 15