Caravel’s Macie Pennington (5) scored a goal to help the Buccaneers reach the DII title game against Indian River.
MIDDLETOWN – Second-seeded Caravel was outshot slightly by Sanford in the first half of Wednesday night’s DIAA Division II semifinals, but the Buccaneers, battling the injury bug all season long, made their attempts count just a little bit more.
Goals by Summer Stewart and Macie Pennington got two-time defending state champion Caravel off to a fast start as they held off the sixth-seeded Warriors 3-0, returning to the state championship game.
“Obviously we’ve been wanting to get everyone back and now we have our teammates back this season,” Pennington said. “We know we can three-peat, but we have to have everybody here to do it.”
Caravel (13-3-1) struck first when Stewart headed home a corner kick from Meghan Bailey in the 12th minute. 12 minutes later, Pennington took a Sierra Frey pass down the middle of the field and slipped a shot to the left of Sanford goalie Maria Thomas to open up a 2-0 lead for the Buccaneers heading into halftime. The two goals were a part of just three Caravel shots in the first half compared to five for Sanford (13-4-1).
“Credit to Sanford, they were a tough team in the regular season and they were a tough team today,” Caravel head coach Tom Brackin said. “Our girls did a good job of hanging in there throughout the season and we’re finally 100 percent.”
Caravel added a goal in the 22nd minute of the second half when Bailey sent another corner on net and Frey headed that one in to seal the game for the Buccaneers.
“You always want to win balls in the air and we have the players who can score on those kicks,” Bailey explained. “It was nice to get two because sometimes we’re lucky to get one in a game.”
The Buccaneers face Indian River later this week in the championship game, and they’ll be battle-tested and ready to go.
”We feel really good right now,” Bailey said. “We’ve been waiting all year to have everyone back and we do at the right time.”
“It’s our preparation,” Pennington added. “We know Indian River’s a good team, we just have to be prepared and work hard when we get there.”