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Truckee girls advance to state championship match

The Truckee girls' soccer team took a 2-1 win against Boulder City on Friday. The girls will go for the program's fourth straight state title tomorrow against South Tahoe.
Justin Scacco / jscacco@sierrasun.com

The three-time defending state champion Truckee girls’ soccer team is a game away from a fourth consecutive title after knocking off Boulder City in the Class 3A semifinals.

The Wolverines faced the Eagles at Wooster High School in Reno earlier today, and advanced to tomorrow’s state championship match behind a 2-1 victory.

“I’m just really proud of this group,” said Coach Kevin Nichols. “We’ve battled through a lot of adversity this season. It’s a special thing that they have going. Not a lot of teams get to experience such great things — just proud of these girls for continuing the season and doing it the right way.”



Truckee got on the board in the fifth minute of the match when left-footed senior Liliana Hosefros took a shot off a rebound with her right foot, and sent it past the Boulder City keeper.

“Taya had a shot and it hit the post and bounced off and I just got the rebound,” said Hosefros on the goal.



Boulder City responded in the 11th minute of the match, scoring on a ball that bounced through traffic and into the middle of the penalty area.

Through the remainder of the first half and much of the second half, the Wolverines dominated possession of the ball, but had several scoring chances end up wide, over the goal, or directly at the keeper.

“We just keep a good positive mindset,” said Hosefros on the team struggling to cash in on opportunities to score. “We keep our team focused. This is our family. This is everything.”

With roughly 16 minutes on the clock, senior Emily Monson sent a ball over the Boulder City backline. Junior Taya Matt outraced an Eagles defender to the ball, and then sent the game-winning goal into the back of the net.

“I was a little hard on myself because some of those should have gone in,” said Matt on not converting on a number of solid opportunities to score earlier on. “But I stayed positive and finally finished one … It was a relief. I was very happy.”

From there, the Wolverines were able to contain Boulder City until the final whistle to secure a fourth straight trip to the state championship match.

“If we’re doing the right things, we don’t worry too much about the opponents,” said Nichols on the team’s strategy going into the game. “We have the ability — if we are playing our game — to beat anybody we come up against … that being said it was an interesting game. They had a different kind of style than we’ve played against before.”

Truckee will now square off against South Tahoe in the state title game for the third consecutive year. The matchup will also mark the fourth time the teams have met up this season. South Tahoe won the first contest 2-0. The teams later tied 1-1 during their second regular season meeting. Truckee then captured a 2-0 win last week to claim the Northern League championship. Tomorrow’s state championship match will be held at Wooster High School in Reno at 11 a.m.

“I’m just super excited to take on South Tahoe again, and hopefully get the four-peat,” said Matt. “It’s going to be a really good game. We’re going to have to bring everything and leave it all out on the field.”


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