Girls' Soccer: Douglas wins second-straight regional title

RENO -- The Douglas girls' soccer team edged Galena 2-1 to win its second consecutive regional title at Damonte Ranch Saturday night.

Carson also secured a spot in the upcoming state playoffs with a 2-1 win

over Damonte Ranch in the third-place game.

The reward for the two rivals winning on Saturday? A chance to meet for the

third time this season at 6 p.m. Friday at Damonte Ranch High School. Galena

will face Pahrump in the other first-round game.

"I'm looking forward to it," Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said. "I was

hoping it would be Carson. It will be electrically charged (playing Carson),

and I like that. I'm looking forward to it and hopefully winning."

Douglas played a tremendous first half, playing much of the first 40 minutes

on Galena's side of the field.

Alex Laing gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead when she took a pass from Tia Lyons

and beat Galena's Kenzie Kline in the 11th minute. Fifteen minutes later,

Laing scored again to give her team a 2-0 lead.

"The first one, Tia put a perfect pass right on my foot," Laing said. "On

the second one, I was one versus two (Laing against two defenders), I pushed

it between her legs, went around her and shot it."

Douglas enjoyed an 8-0 lead in shots on goal in the first 40 minutes. Galena

had couple of runs, but could never get a shot off.

Laing was back in her normal (center) midfield spot after playing some

forward earlier.

"She was coming back from a knee injury," Fitzhugh said, explaining why the

move was made. "She has confidence there. It connected our midfield to the

rest of the team.

"In zone games you have to be able to move the ball; know how to move the

ball."

And, Fitzhugh said her team did a good job of moving the ball right from the

outset. Galena was unable to build any offense from the back, and that's a

problem unless you can catch a break on some through balls. Galena doesn't

have that kind of speed.

The Grizzlies did cut the lead to 2-1 with 23:43 left on a goal by Ally

Whitlock.

"That was a mistake on our part," Fitzhugh said. "The ball ricocheted out

from the mouth of the goal, and she put it in. She's a good player and we

were marking her close. I thought one of our defenders should have gotten to

the ball."

Galena's Sara Lancaster got off a shot with around four minutes left, but it

was an easy save. That was the last time the Grizzlies got a good look.