The Lake Nona Lions are used to cheering on forward Samantha Vitols.
In the Class 5A, District 9 tournament the junior scored three goals in two close victories versus Ridge Community and Lakeland George Jenkins. The wins giving the Lions their third district title in a row.
“I think everything was going right pretty much. Our team had great connection,” said Vitols.
“You have to put goals in the net to win a game. So she has helped us in some pretty tight games when we needed to score. We played George Jenkins this past Friday and it would have been tight before, but we got three goals in thanks to her and Natalie Badik,” said first year head coach, Heather Jaramillo.
During the regular season the Lions went 16-1-1, with Sammy leading the team, scoring 20 of the 94 goals.
“I think that she is the kind of girl that goes out and gives 110% throughout the whole game, she plays 80-90 minutes. She is tactical, technical, and she is all around a hard worker. She uses her left and right foot…what else? She is a great, great girl,” said Jaramillo.
Three time district champs, Lake Nona has never made it out of the first round of the regional bracket. Is this year, the year?
“We have a bunch of great players, not only that but we all have really good chemistry because you can’t just have a team with a bunch of great players that don’t work well together,” said Vitols. “So I think we have the best team so far, out of all three years.”