Soccer Roundup: Lady Tigers roar into playoffs

The Douglas High girls' soccer team will ride a three-game win streak heading into next week's regional playoffs thanks to a 2-1 win at Galena on Saturday and a 1-0 win at Damonte Ranch Monday.

Against Galena, Douglas did all the damage it needed to early with a goal from Aspen Abbott assisted by Jessica Vega in the fourth minute and a goal from Vega in the 11th minute.

Galena's lone goal came later on a defensive lapse during a corner kick that allowed the Grizzlies to basically walk the ball in.

Vega's goal came on a direct kick from outside that she was able to drill into the upper left corner of the net.

Bri Randall had seven saves for the Tigers in the match.

Douglas broke a scoreless tie in the 77th minute at Damonte Ranch Monday night as Katie Dry beat the Mustangs' last defender 1-on-1 and placed the shot into the right side of the net.

"Hopefully we'll bring our last 15 minutes of this match to zone," Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said. "As the game struggled to settle on a field we love to play on, towards the end we finally heard players on and off the field pushing the rest to dig deep.

"We have been waiting all season for leaders to step up with a voice, as Erica Macias has in recent games. The younger players responded to pressure and the veteran players finally started taking risks to be heard. It bonded the team and turned the tides."

Both Dry and Aspen Abbott were tough to contain with their speed while Tia Lyons and Kelsey Mehrer added some wrinkles to the transition game with their sprint speed.

"Shannon Hubbard was a rock on defense and she was inspirational with her anticipation and passing," Fitzhugh said.

Douglas will host Reed Tuesday in the first round of the regional playoffs at the Big George Sports Complex at a time to be announced.

BOYS

Douglas was short-handed Saturday afternoon and ran into a league-leading Galena squad looking to avenge the only blemish on its record -- a 0-0 tie in Minden earlier this year.

The Grizzlies walked away with a 7-0 win.

"We had four kids taking the ACT, two kids sick, one out of town ... we only had 12 guys against the best team," Douglas coach Milko Vasquez said. "They came out really gunning for us because they wanted to make up for that tie.

"There wasn't much we could do. The kids played really hard, but we only had 11 field players and we were cut down to 10 when Daniel Calderon got taken down.

"There's just not much we could've done differently."

Douglas dropped to 1-11-3 on the year heading into the season finale at Damonte Ranch.

The junior varsity team earned a scoreless tie with the Grizzlies earlier in the day.

"It was their best game of the year," Vasquez said. "It's mostly freshmen on the team. But they have gotten better every game and progressed."

Vasquez credited keeper Connor Holman, Joe Mejia, Jacobi Smith, Nathan Neeser, Dane Olsen and Jacob Holley for their defensive play in the game.

Joey Crandall can be reached at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.