Dr. Phillips girls lacrosse improves to 9-0 -- Observer Preps

DR. PHILLIPS The Dr. Phillips girls lacrosse team beat rival Olympia Tuesday night for the first time since 2012.

The Panthers' 20-7 victory not only ended a stretch of dominance for the Titans — who have been state semifinalists in each of the past three seasons — but it also improved Dr. Phillips to 9-0 on the spring.

"It means quite a bit," head coach Tim Morse said. "We came out ready to play, we knew that we had an advantage — but, any time you beat a rival, it's sweet. There's no doubt about it."

The Panthers' nine wins include two (Olympia and Oviedo) against playoff teams from a season ago. The perfect start may be surprising to some, but not to the team's coach.

"Honestly I did expect (it)," Morse said. "We were hurt last year. We were missing our whole midfield line. I knew going into the fall, we'd started having a lot of success against a lot of the good teams in Central Florida. ... We definitely thought we would be in this situation."

Morse credits a lot of his team's success to leadership — whether it is the leadership coming from an expected places, such as his two seniors (Elyse Decker and Piper Johnson) who are Division I signees, or an unexpected place such as freshmen Mary Sosebee or Michelle McGrath.

"You can't tell who the best player is by their attitude," Morse said. "In lacrosse, in order to be a good team, you've got to have great leadership. On the field and off the field. We have that."

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].