PIERSON, Fla. – A 16-year-old girl collapsed and died Wednesday during a junior varsity soccer match in Volusia County, authorities said.
Officials said Rosio Delao, who attended T. Dewitt Taylor Middle-High School in Pierson, died of asthma complications.
Volusia County sheriff's deputies said they were called to the school around 5:15 p.m. and were told that Rosio had collapsed and stopped breathing.
"We have an emergency here at Taylor Middle-High School. We need an ambulance. We had a girl pass out," a 911 caller said.
Deputies found Delao on a stretcher being attended to by paramedics, and she was taken by ambulance to Florida Hospital DeLand, where she was pronounced dead, officials said.
According to deputies, Antuarn Williams, a coach and teacher at Taylor Middle-High, said Rosio raised her hand during the match and indicated that she needed to come out of the game. Rosio sat down on the bench, retrieved an inhaler from under her shirt and inhaled a few breaths, a sheriff's report said. Williams said he then heard a slamming sound and saw Rosio lying on the ground, according to deputies.
School officials performed CPR on Rosio before paramedics arrived, deputies said.
In a message sent Thursday morning, the school informed parents about Rosio's death, adding that grief counselors would be at school to assist her classmates.
"Rosio was a very good student and well-liked," said Principal Ron Pagano. "She was always smiling, bouncing around campus and was an all-American student that principals love to have on campus. The Taylor Wildcats family will miss Rosio and is deeply saddened by her death."