Huskies win semifinal tilt

It didn't take long for the Sutter High girls soccer team to show why it is the class of the Northern Section as the Huskies scored just two minutes into Tuesday's Northern Section Div. I semifinal en route to a dominating 5-0 victory over West Valley at Colusa High.

The win propels Sutter (20-1-1) into Saturday's championship game where it will face long-time nemesis Lassen. "We played fast and kept them on their heels," said Sutter coach Jason Spain, who looks to guide the Huskies to their fourth consecutive section title. "We lost a little bit of our rhythm towards the end of the first half, but we were able to get it back after halftime."

The Huskies took control of the game from the beginning when Jaymi Hill gathered in a rebound and punched it in just two minutes into the contest to stake Sutter to a 1-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, senior midfielder Lexy Kidd made the score 2-0 when she created space from a defender and lobbed a perfect ball just over the head of the goalie and below the crossbar.

The two-goal lead would be more than enough for Sutter, which limited the Eagles (5-6-4) to just three shots on goal in the first half, while firing 12 shots of their own.

Led by the midfield trio of Kidd, Taylor Sullivan and Hailey Taylor, the Huskies used crisp passing and terrific ball-handling to control the game from start to finish.

"Last season people said it was our year for offense, well, this year it's the year of the midfielder," Spain said. "This is the best midfield we ever put together. Taylor and Lexy are the two best in the area and nobody plays harder than Hailey Taylor."

With a 2-0 lead at halftime, the Huskies seemed poised to put the game away when they peppered the West Valley keeper with five shots in the first few minutes after the intermission.

After three near-misses from close range, Lexi Guisti finally got one in the net when she gathered in a loose ball and punched it in 10 minutes into the half to give Sutter a 3-0 advantage.

The Huskies made the score 4-0 two minutes later when Alisan Schmidt found Guisti in front of the net for her second goal of the game.

Taylor Franco, who along with fellow defender Katie Olson played an outstanding game defensively, added Sutter's final goal when she headed in Taylor's corner kick with 8 minutes left to play.

Sutter went on to outshoot the Eagles 20-3 after halftime and didn't allow a shot on goal in the second half until there were five minutes remaining.

"Franco was unbelievable and Hailey and Lexi just destroyed their middle — and they're pretty good players, too," said Spain.

Next up for the Huskies is Lassen, a team that Sutter has yet to beat in the postseason and which eliminated Sutter from the playoffs in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Contact sports assistant Andy Arrenquin at 749-4714 or aarrenquin@appealdemocrat.com.