Douglas High girls soccer
Douglas High's Camden Miller (15) yells in excitement after teammates Seara Macpherson (7) scored the opening goal in the Class 5A Northern Nevada regional semifinal against McQueen.
Photo by Carter Eckl.
RENO – The four Douglas High senior girls soccer players made a bold statement Wednesday night after taking down Damonte Ranch.
They promised they were going to beat McQueen in the regional semifinal.
All four delivered on that promise as the Tigers earned a 2-1 win Thursday night in the Class 5A Northern Nevada regional semifinal over McQueen.
In the 68th minute, it was senior Hannah Shaw that delivered the game-winning blow.
Douglas earned a corner kick and was looking to build on its 1-0 lead as the clock wound down.
Shaw took a small trot into her plant step and used her left foot to loft a perfect cross for what she thought was the head of senior Kennedy Cole.
However, Cole’s head didn’t find the ball, nor did it need to.
Shaw’s bender of a corner kick didn’t touch anyone as it sailed inside the side netting of the goal, giving Douglas a 2-0 lead.
“I’ve never done that before. A lot of them get kind of close though,” said Shaw. “That time I was looking right at Kennedy. …Then, all of a sudden, I look up after I kick and I’m like who put that in there? Then everyone was running toward me. … It felt great. I can’t deny that.”
The senior sprinted to her teammates before catching a leaping Kylee Lash in her arms.
Now, Shaw and the other three seniors have one more chance at No. 1 Galena Saturday afternoon, which took down Reed 3-0 in the other semifinal, as the Tigers head back to yet another regional final.
Tallying the first strike
Shaw’s goal wasn’t her only contribution in the regional semifinal.
Midway through the first half, the defensive back had a free kick in front of the Lancer bench.
Her kick was flicked on by a Tiger and onto the foot of sophomore Seara Macpherson.
Macpherson booted the ball with authority into the back of the net to give the Tigers the first goal.
“It was her running at the goal, hit her body and went in,” said Cole.
After falling to McQueen 3-0 on its senior night just nine days ago, getting the first tally flipped the switch on Douglas’ confidence.
The Lancers did break through in the final moments with a goal from Stacia Conley, but the Tiger defense held firm in the remaining minutes.
Senior goalkeeper Madi VonAhsen had several saves throughout the afternoon, but steered or smothered everything in her direction, except for the one shot late.
One final match
It’s a Tiger soccer team accustomed to going to the state tournament.
“We’ve made it this far every other year,” said Shaw.
They won’t get the chance this year due to the pandemic, but would have earned a state tournament bid with the win over McQueen in a normal year.
Galena (10-0) toppled Douglas 5-0 in mid-March, remains the final pillar to cross for the Tigers.
It’ll be the toughest matchup of the season as the Grizzlies have scored 45 goals and allowed just one in their 10 wins.
“Galena is obviously the team to beat this year. I think it's good to have a lot of confidence going into that game,” said Cole. “To know that we are capable of playing really well against really good teams is the best part about this. That would be the cherry on top of a really good season. We also want to have fun because this isn’t something we even thought we’d get. It’s really special to have this opportunity,” said Cole.
Douglas will travel to Galena Saturday for the Class 5A Northern Nevada Regional Championship, which will kickoff at 2:30 p.m.
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