Lady Bulldog kickers advance to second round of state playoffs

The 12th seeded Douglas Lady Bulldogs advanced to the second round of the 4A DII state playoffs after upsetting fifth seeded Paradise Valley 2-1 in a sudden death shootout Wednesday.

Paradise Valley scored first capitalizing two and a half minutes into the match on a hand ball call against Douglas inside the goalies box which allowed a one-on-one penalty shot between Lady Bulldog goalie Elizabeth Clark and a Paradise Valley player. The PV player scored giving the host team a 1-0 lead.

With 9:54 remaining in the first half Allison Ortega scored for Douglas tying the match at 1-1.

The second half was scoreless as both teams had chances to score but were unable to convert.

Following 20 minutes of scoreless overtime the first round playoff match went to shootout.

Douglas converted two of its five kicks as Ortega and Victoria Mariscal each scored. Paradise Valley also hit two of five moving the shootout to sudden death.

Senior Elise Urquijo, who next year will be playing soccer at Cochise College, scored giving Douglas a 3-2 edge.

Clark then blocked the Paradise Valley shot giving the Lady Bulldogs a thrilling 2-1 sudden death shootout win.

The Lady Bulldogs will face fourth seeded Flagstaff Coconino Friday at 6 p.m. in Mesa.

Coconino beat Phoenix Greenway 2-0 Wednesday in its first round game.

The winner will face the winner of No. 1 Cottonwood Mingus and No. 8 Tucson Palo Verde next Thursday in the state semifinals.

Mingus beat Cholla 2-1 Wednesday and Palo Verde shutout Scottsdale Notre Dame 1-0.