Playoffs: South Tahoe girls bury Fernley under a pile of goals (Gallery)
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South Tahoe's Kelsey Hogan maintains possession under defensive pressure.
Bill Rozak / Tahoe Daily Tribune
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South Tahoe's Mackenzie Nealis brings the ball upfield Thursday.
Hans Baumann / AbDiver Photography
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Mackenzie Nealis gets ready to make a pass for South Tahoe Thursday.
Hans Baumann / AbDiver Photography
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Sarah Hardin boots a corner kick against Fernley.
Hans Baumann / AbDiver Photography
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South Tahoe's Brenda Warden drives upfield against Fernley.
Hans Baumann / AbDiver Photography
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South Tahoe's Ella Bickert waits for the ball to be put in play Thursday against Fernley.
Hans Baumann / AbDiver Photography
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Macy Perez dribbles upfield Thursday. Perez scored the Vikings last two goals in their 8-0 win over Fernley.
Hans Baumann / AbDiver Photography
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South Tahoe freshman Anjelina Maltase shoots and scores the Vikings third goal Thursday against Fernely.
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South Tahoe senior Lillie McGuire passes into the box.
Bill Rozak / Tahoe Daily Tribune
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South Tahoe's Giovana De Loia hits a centering pass Thursday against Fernley.
Bill Rozak / Tahoe Daily Tribune
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The goals came early. They came often. Twenty minutes into an 80-minute game, it was over.
Giovana De Loia scored a hat trick in the first half, of the first half and Kelsey Hogan added a pair of goals to lead the top seed South Tahoe Vikings to an 8-0 steamrolling of Fernley in the first round/quarterfinals of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association 3A Girls’ Northern Region Championships on their home field.
“We wanted to play fast and play at our speed and not worry about the competition,” said Vikings head coach Mark Salmon.
The Vikings were clinical in their passing and surgical in the scoring zone. They didn’t let the Vaqueros suffer and ended it fast.
De Loia scored 90 seconds into the game. She left-footed a shot into the bottom right corner of the net from just inside the box.
Two minutes later, Hogan hit the same shot, but with the opposite foot from the opposite angle.
Anjelina Maltase made it 3-0 just 10 minutes into the game, smashing a shot from almost the same spot as her frontline mates into the top of the net.
Hogan scored her second goal two minutes later from point-blank range off a perfect pass from De Loia.
De Loia scored her second and third goals seconds apart.
Her second was from about 6 inches after Branda Warden drove into the box and made a perfect pass right to De Loia’s foot.
Seconds later Morrison Salmon hit a nice pass to set up De Loia for her third hat trick of the season.
Macy Perez headed home a goal from short range for the Vikings seventh goal in the first half and chipped home a shot from in close for the eighth goal that ended the game with 17:30 left due to the mercy rule.
Vikings head coach Mark Salmon made substitutions after the first 10 minutes and wholesale changes were made with 20 minutes left in the first half.
The second string played the entire second half and the Vikings second unit could have probably qualified for playoffs as a separate team.
The Vikings also bounced back after last week suffering their first Northern League loss and having their 18-game win streak broke against rival Truckee, the tournaments No. 2 seed.
“The loss may have been exactly what we needed,” Salmon said. “We were a little unfocused against them. Losing helped get our focus back for our bigger goal of winning a state title.”
South Tahoe will face No. 3 North Tahoe at 4 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. The winner will play in the championship game and also earn a berth in the state tournament.
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