Youth Soccer: Net Rippers make Lodi tournament finals

The Carson Valley Net Rippers girls' soccer team continued their success this fall with an appearance in the championship game at the Lodi Fall Classic.

In the finals, Carson Valley faced the Vallejo Strikers Gold, whom they faced in a showdown in Carson City in 2006 that ended in a scoreless tie.

It appeared that this championship was headed to a similar conclusion when an unfortunate bounce left a Vallejo Striker in front of the net with less than 30 seconds left and she was able to convert the opportunity for the 1-0 win.

Carson Valley opened pool play with a 4-0 win over the hometown Lodi Crushers that included goals from Holly Downer, Lauren Pickering, Tia Lyons, and Kaelin Mejia. The Net Ripper defense continued to control possession and keep opponents well away from its own net.

On Saturday afternoon, Carson Valley faced a very strong Tracy Xplosion team and appeared to be on its way to a 1-0 win when Tracy scored with four minutes left to tie the game.

The Net Rippers were not content with the tie though and were able to pass the ball up the field to Katie Dry who beat two Tracy defenders and deposited her second goal of the game into the net just before time expired for the 2-1 win.

Given the two wins from Saturday, the Net Rippers headed into Sunday needing only a tie to advance to the finals. Brianna Randall faced her biggest challenge of the year as she faced 10 shots from the Hayward Cyber Rays including two from point blank, but was able to keep the ball out of the net and preserve the 0-0 tie and allow Carson Valley to advance. Erica Macias was named the team's tournament MVP for her outstanding play throughout the tournament.

The Net Rippers team included Rochelle Seymour, Jillian Olivera, Kaelin Mejia, Holly Downer, Tia Lyons, Shannon Hubbard, Katie Dry, Kelsey Walsh, Alison Chambon, Lauren Pickering, Erica Macias, April Sorenson, Shannon Prinz, Cora Moody, and Brianna Randall. Kaitlyn Varble was unable to participate due to an injury.

In league play, the Net Rippers finished with 10 wins and no losses and were 19-2-2 overall with 71 goals scored and only nine allowed. The defensive core of Moody, Randall, Hubbard, Seymour, Chambon, and Macias continued to come together throughout the season as they only allowed four goals over the final 17 games.