Minden-Even though the score wouldn't suggest it, after the Douglas High girls soccer team beat Fallon 7-0 Tuesday, Tigers coach Fred Schmidt stressed that his team still needs to improve on its finishing.
But Schmidt was referring more to his team's 2-1 loss to Reed Saturday, when his team missed several scoring chances against the Raiders.
"We are improving each game," Schmidt said. "Against Reed, we really improved on our passing and possession but couldn't score. Then against Fallon, we really put away our scoring chances."
But after all, it was Fallon, whom the Tigers have never lost to. In fact, Schmidt pointed out that the Greenwave haven't scored more than two goals against the Tigers since he began coaching at Douglas.
Against Fallon, sophomore Britney Christen didn't even let the Greenwave players blink, let alone think about scoring a goal, as she scored the Tigers first goal 30 seconds into the game. Eight minutes later, Douglas made it 2-0 after Andrea Chaney scored on an assist from Amber Gwinn, who finished the game with a goal and two assists.
Then Abby Aldrich, who has returned to the lineup after nursing a sprained ankle, scored the Tigers third goal after a Becci Nealy cross. Less than a minute later, Tracey Hawks scored the first of her two goals in the game after putting her shot into the upper net. Douglas then scored its final goal of the half when Fallon's goalie tried to clear the ball from the Greenwave's penalty box, but her clearance bounced off the Hawks and into the back of the net.
In the second half, Schmidt experimented with several lineups and put players in different positions, including starting goalie Ashley Sulprizio at forward. He also put a pass restriction on the Tigers before allowing them to go at the goal.
"We're not into trying to run up the score,"Schmidt said. "It's just bad sportsmanship."
Gwinn scored the Tigers sixth goal and then assisted on Karen Lucas' goal, which finished the scoring at 7-0.
"We have the ability to score goals but we haven't been able to do that until today," Schmidt said. "When you have six or seven players that score in a game, that's always encouraging."
Douglas next plays against Elko High Saturday in Elko. After Elko, the Tigers then play Galena and Carson, both of which Schmidt considers two of the best teams in Northern Nevada.
But in soccer, unlike football, every game counts towards qualifying for the playoffs. And with the Tigers loss to Reed and Carson's win over the Raiders last week, Schmidt said his team can't lose many more games if it wants to compete for the Sierra League title.
"We're already chasing," Schmidt said. "We can't drop anymore and Elko is always a tough place to play."