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Vikings rout Galena

Steve Yingling

In the four years that Julia Russell has coached girls soccer at South Tahoe High, the Vikings had never beaten the Galena Grizzlies.

On Tuesday, the Vikings not only defeated the Grizzlies, but they embarrassed them, 8-1, in their season opener in Reno.

“We wanted to win, but we didn’t expect to win so grandly,” Russell said. “It’s only going to aid them in coming together more.”



For a half, the Northern Nevada League 4A match looked nothing like a blowout. Melissa Stetson’s goal off a crossing pass gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

Galena tied the match 2 minutes into the second half. But from then on, the Vikings gave Galena’s goal machine-gun-like assault. Two minutes after Galena’s equalizer, Melissa Stetson broke from the pack to make it 2-1.



The breakaways continued as three of the next four Viking goals came off the foot of Jen Galea. Galea scored her hat trick within an 11-minute span, and coupled with Jessica Perasso’s goal, put STHS firmly ahead, 6-1.

Jessi Siefert added another breakaway goal in the 34th minute, juking the goalie into falling to the ground before dropping the shot easily into the net. Heather Lindner capped the Viking scoring blitz with a 20-yard shot high into the net in the 37th minute.

“We had a phenomenal practice on Saturday, which lent itself to this victory,” Russell said.

Russell credited the blowout, in part, to their aggressiveness and ball control.

“The defense was good and possession in the middle of the field was stellar,” she said. “The girls really wanted the soccer ball and they were getting it out of the air.”

South Tahoe plays host to McQueen at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The Viking JV match was even more onesided Tuesday as STHS crushed Galena 12-1. Kelly Meyer scored four goals and Tracey Ketelsen posted a hat trick.


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