LAKELAND − Copeland Collany’s junior season came to a painful end in the girls soccer district semifinals when she sustained an ACL injury. One year later, again playing in the district semifinals, Collany’s season is again in peril.
The Santa Fe Catholic senior midfielder went down midway through the first half of the Crimson Hawks’ 8-0 victory over Ridgeview Global Studies on Jan. 22, in the Class 2A, District 9 tournament, setting up a meeting with defending champion Lakeland Christian on Tuesday. Whether Collany is on the field is unclear.
“It looks like an ankle,” Santa Fe Catholic coach Allan Langford said after Thursday’s win. “We don’t know how serious it is. They’re going to get X-rays. I think she just rolled her ankle. Hopefully, there isn’t any ligaments (damage) or anything like that.”
Collany was capping a stellar senior season in which she showed no ill effects of last year’s injury. When the season began in October, just nine months later, she was ready to go, which surprised Langford.
“We weren’t expecting her back until later,” Langford said. “So all of a sudden, we got the message that she was doing training, and next thing you know she was out there and she was ready to go at the beginning of the season. She never missed a beat.”
Collany is the leader of the senior class that began the turnaround in fortunes for Santa Fe’s girls soccer program back when they were freshmen.
Santa Fe went 5-13-1 in 2021-22. In 2022-23, Collany’s freshman season, the Crimson Hawks’ went 14-8. Collany was second on the team in goals and was part of a class that included defender Arden Keyser and goalkeeper Reagan Cutrer. The three have been among the top players in the county at their positions throughout their careers.
Collany gives Santa Fe a versatile player who can play midfield or forward and excel at both. Collany was third on Santa Fe with 10 goals going into Thursday’s game, behind Kendall Freeland (14 goals) and Audrey Slater (12 goals).
“Copeland? she’s dynamic,” Langford said. “She’s very versatile. She’s played forward. She’s played mid. She just brings aggressive moves. She’s physical, and she brings a lot but she’s got a lot of teammates. We got Kendall. We got Ansley (Lausell).”
Freeland, Lausell and Slater lead a junior class that joins the senior class to form the core of a team looking to dethrone Lakeland Christian. Against Ridgeview Global, Freeland scored three goals and added an assist. Slater scored two goals, and Alyssa Herrera, Kailey Sheetz and Helena Rodriguez each scored one goal. Rodriguez and Lausell each had two assists, and Alex Gomez and Creighton Collany had one assist.
Collany’s season-ending injury last season was a critical loss for the Crimson Hawks when they played LCS in the final and lost 3-0.
“The good thing of it is that between now and last year, we’re loaded this year,” Langford said. “We’ve got depth. I don’t want to say we won’t miss her, but we can absorb more than we did the last two years.”
In fact, this is the third year in a row that Collany has been out with an injury in the postseason.
While the Crimson Hawks have better depth, Santa Fe hopes to have Collany, as Langford pointed out this is his team’s best chance to dethrone Lakeland Christian.
“The first year she came in as a freshman, that was the start of this, the start of what we have now,” he said. “Last year crippled us. We just didn’t have the attack.”
Langford and LCS coach Jason Streets expect a tough battle when the teams meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lakeland Christian.
“It’ll be a good game,” Langford said. “I don’t think either team’s going to run away with it.”
LCS cruises into finals
Lakeland Christian didn’t take any chances with injuries to its starters. After quickly getting a lead, Streets went to his bench players, who received a lot of playing time in the Vikings’ victory over Fort Meade.
Allie Williams scored the first goal with an assist from Charity Allen. Sophomore Kendra Simpson scored the final two goals. In between, Makayla Hampton scored one goal with two assists. Brooklyn Strawbridge, Piper Streets and Kendall Reber also scored. Ellie Cox had two assists, and Emmie Williams and Liberty Allen also had one assist apiece.
All Saints wins to set up rematch with Victory
Kaya Carll scored to two goals to lead All Saints to a 5-1 victory over Orangewood Christian in the 1A-6 district semifinals.
The defending champion, All Saints plays No. 1 seed Victory for the district title on Monday.
Laila Kazmier, Peyton Haynes and Anya Riskin also scored one goal each. Sydney Rasnake had two assists.
More scores
Boys Soccer
Class 7A, District 9
Davenport 1, Haines City 0
Girls Soccer
Class 6A, District 7
Bloomingdale 6, Lakeland 1
Lake Gibson 3, Bartow 0
Class 5A, District 7
Innovation 8, Lake Buena Vista 0
Auburndale 1, Sebring 0
Class 4A, District 7
Lake Wales 5, Lake Region 0
Mulberry 2, Brandon 0
Class 3A, District 7
McKeel 9, Discovery 1
Tampa King at Four Corners, Friday, 7:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Another Santa Fe Catholic playoff soccer win marred by star player’s injury
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
