Girls' Soccer: Douglas, Carson battle to scoreless tie

The match had barely been over for five minutes when both coaches were already talking about the regional playoffs, which start in about three weeks.

While the league-leading Carson girls' soccer team battled Douglas to a scoreless tie in Minden Tuesday night, each side knew it probably wasn't the last time the rivals would see each other this season.

The one sure thing is that any meetings in the near future won't be ending in any ties.

"Douglas is a tough team," Carson coach Randy Roser said. "We could see them again. We could see them twice more (referring to the state championships)."

On the other side of the field, Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh nearly echoed Roser's comments.

"There's a really good chance we'll see them again," she said. "They are a great team and they provide a lot of matchup difficulties.

"Picturing this rivalry matchup in a playoffs, it would be an incredible atmostphere and hopefully a great game."

Tuesday night's game saw a near split in possession while Carson held in the edge in overall scoring chances.

Douglas outshot the Senators 9-8 in the first half but the Senators had the best scoring chance of opening frame when the ball got loose in front of an open Tiger net in the 15th minute. A Tiger defender was able to clear the ball away.

Douglas best chance of the half, and the game, came just before halftime when Katie Dry broke free down the left side and launched a shot to the high near corner of the net that deflected off the crossbar.

Carson jumped out of the gate in the second half and blasted Tiger keeper Bri Randall with three solid shots in the first two minutes.

Kenzie Tillitt had one of the best scoring chances in the game in the 44th minutes when she blistered the ball toward the far post. Randall made a diving stop to her right for one of what would be 10 saves in the second half.

"They tried to make a quick transition right off the kickoff," Fitzhugh said. "That set us back on our heels. They were really on us from that point. We had some things we were looking to do in the second half, but we had to wait for a while until we could get the ball out of our end.

"It took us a while to recover. What I was happy about was that we were able to recover. I thought that showed a lot about the experience and composure of this team."

Roser said there was no adjustment to start the half, just solid execution.

"We didn't change anything, we're just a very fit team and we got the ball down there and pinned them back there for a while," Roser said. "We started finding the slots and getting some corners. It was just a good solid team effort all the way through. Our defense was strong, the midfielders were getting the ball up to the forwards. There were a lot of good things happening.

"I thought Bri Randall really had a great game for them. "

Randall finished with 14 saves in the game, including a number of diving stops down the stretch.

Carson nearly won the game in the 78th minute when Tillitt had a direct kick bounce off the crossbar right in front to Elizabeth Matley. Matley's rebound shot dribbled to Randall's right, but Randall was able to gather it in with her fingertips.

Douglas had a number of decent chances in the second half, the best of which came from Tia Lyons, who got loose on a breakaway in the 54th minute but the ball took an awkward bounce off the turf and rolled into traffic to end the threat.