MINDEN -- Phil Sheridan was caught in a lie. Guess what? He doesn't care.
After a 3-0 loss to North Valleys last Wednesday, an angry Sheridan said he didn't care about winning or losing or making the playoffs. All he cared about was playing good soccer.
In their most unattractive win of the year, the Tigers beat Reno 1-0 on Tuesday at Douglas High and moved in front of the defending Northern 4A champs in the Sierra League and thus changing Sheridan's mood from fuming to lukewarm in only a week.
"Oh, it was ugly," said Sheridan, whose team missed the playoffs last year, the first time that's happened since he's been at Douglas. "We didn't possess the ball that well but neither did they. We went to the ball hard. We knew they were going to come at us but we really got to the ball."
What a difference a week makes.
Douglas' only goal came in the 4th minute, when Chris Honer's dead ball from near midfield bounced off the crossbar and Trent Hennessey-York was there to poke it in. The goal was his team leading fourth of the season.
"We played well together as a team today," Hennessey-York said. "We were really excited for this game. We have to do a better job on the offensive side."
Reno (2-3-2 overall, 1-2-3 league) generated the majority of the chances in the first half but the Tigers had two great chances in the second half to add an insurance goal. In the 46th minute, Hennessey-York's corner found the head of Colton Mellows, who drilled the ball over the bar. In the 55th minute, left winger Nic Beres played a nice ball that split two Husky defenders and found Ernie Aquino in the box, but Aquino mishit the shot and saw it roll out for a corner.
Soon after that, Douglas (4-3-1, 3-3) went in a shell to preserve the victory. There were only a few shaky moments.
"We gotta' learn how to play with the lead a little better," Sheridan said. "Our touch and skill aren't there yet. We had guys in the back who were playing the ball right to the other team. But I wasn't worrying about possessing the ball at that point (end of the game)."
The Tigers, who play South Tahoe on Saturday, are now in fourth place in the league with nine points. Reno, which lost to eventual state champion Chaparral last season in the state semifinals, is in fifth place with six points. Sheridan isn't convinced his team has made the playoffs, of course. But at least he's thinking about them. Well, almost.
"All of our games are away, so we have everybody at their place," Sheridan said. "It's going to be tough. We realize that we're young but can still beat people. And I think that's helping."
DOUGLAS JV 4, RENO 2
Cody Lamb scored three goals for the hat trick and Pat Eshelman added the other goal in the Tigers win over the Huskies.
Douglas, which improved to 4-2 in league, got two assists from Nathan Vandermade. Chase Cohee and Kevin Carlson also had assists. Sweeper Alex Haas played exceptionally well on defense for the Tigers.
Douglas plays South Tahoe on Saturday.
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