With their season on the line, the Douglas girls' soccer team came up with one of their most physical and well-played games of the season.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, it had to come against one of the top teams in the region.
The top-ranked South Tahoe Vikings came up with just enough " a goal that came out of a bad bounce on a challenge near midfield " to advance to the NIAA Northern 4A state title game, beating Douglas 1-0 Wednesday night at Damonte Ranch.
"I think it was very physical," Tigers coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said. "We showed a lot of determination. We came to play our game and put all of our passes together. Defense first makes for the best offense. (The Tigers) played their hearts out. I'm very proud. There are no chins down. We left it on the field. It didn't go our way. One shot " that's how soccer goes sometimes."
Tahoe got on the board late in the game as Cassidy Berg got a lucky bounce on a tough challenge just over the midfield line.
The ball trickled to the left side where Alli Fox was charging toward the net. Fox touched it twice and then sent a rocket in from 15 yards out for the goal in the 65th minute.
Douglas then started sending the ball long from that point on and got a tremendous chance to tie the game in the 68th minute when the ball was sent high into the box, but the Tiger forwards couldn't break free to get a square shot on goal.
The two teams basically felt each other out for the first 15 minutes of the game before South Tahoe finally got a chance on net as Tahoe forward Morgan Cook got loose 1-on-1 against Douglas goalie Jamie Greer in the 17th minute.
Greer charged out and booted the ball away before Cook could get a shot off.
Greer faced a varitable shooting gallery all night, coming up with eight saves as the Vikings got off about 12 shots.
The Tigers had a chance to take the lead just before halftime when Tianna Gregory headed the ball in toward the net with Sarah Hartley in position to take a shot, but Tahoe keeper Candace Prescott broke the play up before anything could come of it.
Douglas finished its season at 13-7-1 overall and 9-4-1 in Sierra League play.
"It came to an end too quickly," Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said. "This will be a season the girls' always remember as a very special experience.
"I'm just so proud of these girls. It was a pleasure to work through the season with such a great bunch of kids."
