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River Ridge Wins Third Straight District 5A-7 Crown

River Ridge 1, Land O' Lakes 0

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: January 18, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - NEW PORT RICHEY - As they had done twice before this year, the River Ridge Lady Knights again shutout rival Land O' Lakes to claim their third consecutive league crown during Friday night's Class 5A, District 7 championship game.

Controlling possession throughout the majority of the contest, River Ridge finally broke down the Lady Gator defense roughly five minutes into the second half to grab the decisive 1-0 lead.

River Ridge previously defeated Land O' Lakes 2-0 and 5-0 in the regular season.

The Lady Knights scored following a corner kick from sophomore Corinna Dyl. After booting the ball into the Land O' Lakes box, the Knights missed on a quick header, but freshman Jenny Karl was in great position to grab an assist from Kaleigh Patri and net her eleventh goal of the season.

Following the game, River Ridge head coach Skip Glover said the game played out to his expectations as far as being a tough, grind-it-out type of match.

"I knew Land O' Lakes would come ready, they always do," he said. "(Gator) Coach (Vicky) King is great at planning for games like this."

Though frequently under heavy duress, the Lady Gators' defense did a quality job keeping the high-octane River Ridge attack from getting many clean looks at the net.

It was only the second time all year the Lady Knights have been held to one goal or fewer. The other was eleven days prior, in a 1-1 tie with Citrus-Lecanto.

Both programs now advance to regional playoff contention beginning Jan. 24.

Check back to www.suncoastnews.com to see who these and other area schools will be battling on the road to the state championship.

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