SPARKS - Kali Schmidt scored both goals and goalie Ashley Sulprizio recorded her third shutout of the playoffs as the Douglas girls soccer team won the Northern 4A zone championship with a 2-0 win over Reed High on Saturday at Reed.
It was the Tigers third time they've made it to the championship game in the past seven years but have lost in their two previous attempts. In 1994, Wooster won in sudden death overtime and then in '96, Douglas led 1-0 before South Tahoe scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to beat them. Obviously, Tiger coach Fred Schmidt thinks the title was long overdue.
"We finally did it, it feels great," Schmidt said. "As I said before, this team has improved all year and kept building."
Douglas started the season 4-3, including a 2-1 loss to the Raiders. And since a 1-0 loss to rival Carson, the Tigers went 11-0-1, and continued to get better. Before the playoffs started, Schmidt felt his team was playing their best soccer of the year.
"We got better and better each week,"Schmidt said. "The chemistry and camaraderie on this team is a as good as it gets."
In Friday's semifinal game, the speed of Reed's Sherika Hardaway and Sierra Malan caused fits for the Carson defense as the Raiders upset the Senators 1-0. But against Douglas, they couldn't capitalize because defenders Rebecca Wallstrum and Jessica Brady, along with Kelsey Newell and Kristie Gearty kept them in check.
"On defense, we didn't play as far back as they did," Schmidt said. "And if they got behind them, Kristie has enough speed and confidence to get there. And on offense, they played so deep that we kept putting numbers up the field."
In the first half, the sagging Reed defense got burned by Amber Gwinn, who set up the game's first goal. Gwinn beat a couple of defenders and instead of shooting herself, unselfishly laid the ball off to Schmidt, who put the Tigers up 1-0 with a goal in the 30th minute.
Then in the second half, the Douglas defense withheld some pressure from Reed and then started to get some counterattack chances. And in the 77th minute, Schmidt beat several Raider defenders inside the penalty box and fired a low shot past goalie Jennifer Mavis that finished the scoring at 2-0 and secured the Tigers championship dreams.
"I knew once we got that goal that it was over," Schmidt said. "With a one goal lead, Ashley will do her job but with a two goal, I knew we had it."
Sulprizio, a senior, will attend the University of Nebraska next year on a soccer scholarship, but said she'll savor this one forever.
"We came into the season as a young team, a wild card," Sulprizio said. "I wasn't sure what was going to happen this season but we put it all together when it counted."
Reed finishes the season at 14-3-2 while Douglas (15-3-1) returns 16 players from this year's zone championship team.
"We lost to Galena last year in the semifinals when I thought it was our year to win it," Schmidt said. "We got it done this year with 11 new players on the varsity team. What a feeling."
