Girls' Soccer: Tigers claim season-opening tourney title

It came as a bit of a surprise last year when the Douglas girls' soccer team opened up the season by winning the Howell Memorial Tournament at Galena High in impressive fashion.

The Tigers exploded offensively, outscoring their opponents 19-6 over five games - all wins. From there, Douglas extended the opening of the season into a 10-game win streak. The Tigers went on to win the league title and finish second in the region and the state.

The big question heading into this past weekend was just how much of that Douglas would be able to replicate.

If this year's Howell Tournament was any indication, the answer may be pretty favorable.

Douglas powered through its five games, outscoring its opponents 17-1 and posting four shutouts along the way.

On top of that, the Lady Tigers were without their leading returning goal scorer, Tia Lyons, who missed the tournament after dislocating her shoulder last week.

"It was just a very strong weekend overall," Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said. "The girls are in very good shape. They went hard at everyone and were very tired at the end. The last game was hard, but they gutted it out.

"I'm very happy with everyone's effort."

Douglas opened the tournament Friday with a 5-0 win over Incline and a 3-0 win over Spanish Springs.

They came back Saturday to defeat Faith Lutheran 6-0 and move on to the semifinals against rival South Tahoe.

The Lady Tigers took a 2-1 win over the Vikings on goals from Alex Laing and Katie Dry.

In the championship, Douglas took a 1-0 win over host Galena, getting a goal from Laing in the sixth minute.

Laing had six goals on the weekend, five of which came unassisted.

"She was quite a force out there, very vocal," Fitzhugh said. "Brianna Randall was great in goal for us and Holly Downer came in and played a lot of positions, both on offense and on defense.

"The defense was just great overall, not letting anyone get quality shots on Randall. Cora Moody did a great job at sweeper.

"Overall, the tournament was won by the whole team. Everyone played and we got a good look at everyone. To win it on top of that was just a treat. We're looking forward to the rest of the season."