Tribune photo by John Byrne - Reed High senior forward Jordan Sambrano (6) receives a pass as Spanish Springs freshman defender Alyssa Bertuleit watches the action during Tuesday’s High Desert League match.
When the teams met the first time this season, the Cougars earned a rare win over the Raiders, 3-1.
In Raider territory Tuesday, the Cougars looked to take two from Reed on the season, while the Raiders desperately wanted a split — which they got with a 2-1 victory.
“I’m good now,” Reed coach Jason Saville said after this win. “I can take a deep breath now. I haven’t slept in a couple days ... They’re a good team. They played us very tough the first time. We needed to win this game to kind of have a chance at second place.”
Reed scored first, on a set piece. Jessica Allen took a corner kick in the 19th minute for the Raiders, and found Taylor Ryckebosch on the back post, who got her head on it to give Reed a 1-0 lead.
“We played well,” Spanish Springs coach Mike Faker said. “The first goal, we made a mistake. We had a player kind of duck a ball ... We made a mistake. but a good effort.”
The score didn’t change through the rest of the first half, and well into the second.
Reed’s Kelsey Gomer got her second breakaway in under two minutes. She burned three Cougar defenders to be one-on-one with SSHS keeper Erica Lorenz and got a well placed shot onto the left side of the goal to give Reed a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute of the game.
“There were times where we dominated possession. We just couldn’t put it in the net,” Faker said. “Then when we went away from double teaming Gomer, she made us pay.”
Under a minute later, a Reed defensive breakdown saw its lead cut in half on an unassisted Ellie Rybak goal, pulling the Cougars within one, 2-1.
“They were chasing the game because they didn’t want to lose the game, knowing what it would cost them,” Saville said. “We were able to kind of get that breakaway at the end and kind of put the game, I thought, out of reach at that point, with six minutes to go. To their credit, they didn’t quit. We had a defensive breakdown at the end.”
Even with the breakdown, Reed was able to close out the final five minutes to keep the score at 2-1.
Reed had nine shots on the night, while the Cougars had seven.
The game ended up with major repercussions for the Cougars, more than than a win or loss to its biggest rival.
“We needed that, to have a chance to be first in our division,” Faker said. “Now it’s going to be second or third I think.”
Spanish Springs trails Elko, who had a league record of 7-1-1 heading into Tuesday before a match against Hug.
Both teams have sealed a place in the playoffs, along with Elko and Reno, and now it is merely a battle for seeding.
The win puts Reed in contention to beat Spanish Springs in the standings. Both teams have a chance to take second, third or fourth place.
Reed will take on Reno next, hoping to salvage a split there as well, and its record seems to be favorable. Reed lost to Elko, Spanish Springs and Reno in the first half of the season. In the second half, the Raiders beat Elko and Spanish Springs. If Reed loses to Reno, the Huskies will be the only team to beat them twice so far this season.
Reno will play Reed at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Reed will visit North Valleys on Tuesday in its final league match of the season.
Spanish Springs, meanwhile, has just one more league match left on the schedule. The Cougars will host McQueen on Monday at 5:30 p.m. The last time the squads met, Spanish Springs pulled out a 1-0 victory. The Cougars have only lost to Elko and Reed in league play this season.
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