Pictures: Lake Mary High Girls Soccer State Champions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\nLake Mary dominated most of Wednesday\u2019s game, keeping Cypress (21-2) in defense mode. The Rams certainly were not without their opportunities before going into the two overtime periods, but neither team could find the net and it was 0-0 heading into penalty kicks after 100 minutes of play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard. Your players are so tired and I\u2019m over there trying to make the best decisions, but it\u2019s hard because all that matters is an instant and dealing with pressure,\u201d said Lake Mary coach Christian Eissele, who took on the head coaching role after his father retired in 2000. \u201cI\u2019m just happy for them to come out on top. It was a crazy PK shootout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lake Mary freshman Lily Ellis had the task of being in goal against the Cypress Bay penalty-kick barrage, but she was able to block four of their tries to put Susi in position to boot the game-winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so surreal. Everything I ever dreamed of as a kid just came true right now,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI was thinking to myself, \u2018Here we go, just gotta do my best and I know we all have it.\u2019 It felt great.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me it was very stressful but once I made that first save, I just kinda knew. I had a feeling we were gonna win.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TOS-L-LakeMaryGirlSoccer2696_2d5728.jpg\")
Lake Mary High goalkeeper Lily Ellis makes an athletic save on a penalty kick during the FHSAA Class 7A state championship game against Cypress Bay High at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Lake Mary won the match 4-3 on penalty kicks to claim the state championship. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
It was a tough spot for the freshman keeper, but Eissele was confident in her abilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her, \u2018Just rely on you instincts. Just trust it and go,\u2019 \u201d Eissele said. \u201cShe made some freaking crazy saves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophomore Natalie Rowen, senior Ava McKay and junior Myah Bonnett also made penalty kicks.<\/p>\n
Lake Mary just couldn\u2019t find a way to get the ball in goal in regulation.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Siena Sigurdsson had a golden opportunity in the 53rd minute but after getting past one defender on a crossover, she ran into another and could only manage a soft shot attempt, which bounded wide left.<\/p>\n
Some nifty teamwork also failed to materialize just after halftime when Teagan Jahns directed a pass toward Ava McKay who kicked it over to Rowen. Her direct opportunity at the goal was blocked with a nice save by Cypress Bay keeper Alejandra Duran.<\/p>\n
Lake Mary had other chances in the first half, as well. The most direct shot was a penalty kick after a called hand-ball in the 10th minute. Peyton O\u2019Linn quick-footed a shot right at Duran, who was ready and caught the ball, mid-air.<\/p>\n
![\"Lake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TOS-L-LakeMaryGirlSoccer2673_012a44.jpg\")
Lake Mary High player Kailey Susi kicks the winning goal to win the FHSAA Class 7A state championship game against Cypress Bay High at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Lake Mary won the match 4-3 on penalty kicks to claim the state championship. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Jahns sent a header into the goal area in the 16th minute, but Sigurdsson was just late arriving and could not catch up to convert. Sigurdsson also missed wide in the 32nd minute.<\/p>\n
A large Lake Mary contingent, which made the short trip up I-4, was loud and made a huge, collective gasp in the second overtime when McKay sent a pass to the front of the goal but Sigurdsson\u2019s header just missed, over the net high and right.<\/p>\n
Jahns was Lake Mary\u2019s leading scorer this season with 24 goals. Sigurdsson, who scored twice in the semifinal victory, had 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a crazy feeling and it definitely feels unreal,\u201d Jahns said. \u201cI have so much respect for my whole team and I\u2019m so proud of my team through this whole process. In my heart I knew that we would come out on top in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/teagan-jahns_eaaf72.jpg\")
Lake Mary junior Teagan Jahns in action during Lake Mary’s victory over Cypress Bay in the Class 7A girls state championship match at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand. (Chris Hays\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Jahns, just a junior, has her eyes on the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely sets a standard for future years and it just shows how relentless we are and how strong-bonded we are and just that no matter what comes at us we can always find a way out of it,\u201d Jahns said. \u201cIt really sets the tone for the next years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They had to go 100 scoreless minutes and seven penalty kicks deep, but the Lake Mary girls soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,199032,4309,561,715,200038,200039,82],"class_list":["post-500266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-girls-high-school-soccer","tag-high-school-sports","tag-soccer","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-social-varsity-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Lake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TOS-L-LakeMaryGirlSoccer2677_14970a.jpg\")
Lake Mary High girls soccer players mob Kailey Susi (15) after she scored the game-winning penalty kick to give Lake Mary the FHSAA Class 7A state championship victory over Cypress Bay High at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Lake Mary won the match 4-3 on penalty kicks to claim the state championship. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n