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South Tahoe girls soccer holds off Fallon for 3-2 win

Steve Puterski
sputerski@lahontanvalleynews.com
South Tahoe forward Jordyn Dion gets past Fallon defender Kayla Biggs in the Vikings’ 3-2 win over the Greenwave on Thursday.
Steve Puterski / Lahontan Valley News |

FALLON, Nev. — It wasn’t the clean, inspired performance the South Tahoe girls soccer team has become accustomed to this season — and its opponent played with vigor and energy to nearly pulled off one of the season’s biggest upsets. Still, the Vikings showed their championship mettle and squeaked out a 3-2 win at Fallon on Thursday.

“It should feel like a loss,” Vikings head coach Jeremy Evans said. “It just seemed like we weren’t on the same page today, and I don’t exactly know why. I told them they were lucky. Fallon played well enough to beat us.”

Fallon’s upset bid started early, as the Greenwave stunned South Tahoe with a goal in the second minute. Macy Myers sent a corner kick to the front post and the ball hit off the post on a shot by Fallon’s Rebecca Mills — but Jordin Warner cleaned up the rebound for a 1-0 lead.



“We started off gangbusters,” Fallon head coach Kelly Spicer said. “The first 10 minutes is important against a team like this. The girls played hard, but we hit that wall again.”

Facing an early deficit, South Tahoe (12-2-1, 9-0-1 Northern I-A) received a gift three minutes later — one that proved to be the difference.



South Tahoe’s Carli Valney, racing down the left side, popped up a seemingly easy shot to Fallon goalkeeper Cheyenne Sweeney. The ball, though, slipped through Sweeney’s hands and Kayla Biggs’ attempt to clear the ball before crossing the goal line was too late, resulting in an own goal.

“It was crushing,” Spicer said. “You can’t live on that because it was early in the game. If we did live on that we probably would have been killed.”

South Tahoe, though, took control of the match in the 20th minute, dominating possession and limiting Fallon’s ability to counter — Jordyn Dion nearly put one home, but her blast bounced off the crossbar. Ally King, however, put the Vikings up 2-1 on a 19-yard blast from the top of the goal box in the 29th minute.

The second half started well for the Vikings, as Kendall Eagen came out with two scoring chances. Her first shot was knocked away by Sweeney, but about 5 minutes later Eagen drilled a shot into the left corner for a 3-1 lead.

Still, Fallon (7-9-1, 4-5-1) proved it wasn’t an easy an out.

The Greenwave answered in about the 60th minute when Brooke Vezina corralled a loose ball and tapped a shot past STHS goalkeeper Alicia Rea, who injured her shoulder diving after the shot and colliding with the post.

“Fallon always pressures us,” Evans said. “The girls got the third goal not realizing that first goal was a mistake. We did not impose ourselves. We have to be better than that.”

Fallon nearly tied the game with about 2 minutes left when Biggs rushed down the left side, and made a slight move to throw off backup keeper Maia Bickert. Biggs’ shot, though, sailed wide of the net as South Tahoe held on for the win.

“We were very fortunate to get out of here with a win,” Evans said. “Eleven rebels out there. We are just not that good to buy into how we’ve been playing.”


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