The Fountain Hills High School girls soccer team has fought tooth and nail to advance to the semi-finals in the state tournament.

The Lady Falcons’ first match of the postseason tournament was against 11th ranked Chandler Prep on Feb. 6. After a slow start, FHHS won the game 8-2.

Fountain Hills’ second playoff game was on Feb. 9 against the undefeated, third ranked Gilbert Christian. The Lady Falcons overcame hurdle after hurdle to win the 4-4 match in penalty kicks.

FHHS plays in the semifinals tonight, Feb. 13, against Northwest Christian. The match will be at a neutral pitch at Williams Field High School and starts at 7 p.m.

If the Lady Falcons win tonight’s match they will advance to the finals on Feb. 15 starting at 7:30 p.m., again at Williams Field High School.

Chandler Prep

In the fourth minute of the match, Chandler Prep caught the Falcon defense “flat footed,” as head coach Matt Wiehl put it, and scored their first goal.

FHHS responded quickly when, less than a minute later, Falcon Rori Smith connected with Lindsey McMahon on a corner kick, tying the match.

Even with a point on the scoreboard the Falcons still had some dust they needed to shake off.

“Through much of the first half the Falcons failed to convert on numerous scoring opportunities,” Wiehl said. “Then, once again, a long ball played ahead to a Chandler Prep forward was just enough for the same player to hit a shot near post to take a 2-1 lead.”

Once again the Falcons would not let this goal go unanswered for long.

“Within a minute Falcon sophomore Ashby Owen scored after receiving a pass from sophomore Parker Sweet,” Wiehl said. “The score remained tied at two goals apiece at halftime.”

Wiehl said that both teams battled evenly for the first twenty minutes of the second half but a goal by Morgan Soloman off a corner kick by Ali McAuliff would seal the Falcon lead for the rest of the match.

“The momentum then completely shifted in favor of the Falcons, who scored five more times in the span of 12 minutes,” Wiehl said. “Ashby Owen scored three more times, finishing with an impressive four goals on the night. Morgan Soloman scored again, finishing with two goals, and Rori Smith added a long-range shot out of the reach of the Chandler Prep keeper.”

Gilbert Christian

The second playoff match against Gilbert Christian started just like the previous match, with Gilbert Christian scoring the first goal.

“Gilbert Christian scored eight minutes into the match,” Wiehl said. “But the Falcons found success again on a corner kick as Lindsey McMahon got on the end of a crossed ball for the tying goal.”

From there the Falcons went on the attack, scoring two goals in quick succession.

“Gilbert Christian answered back a few minutes later with a shot that Falcon keeper, Bayley Dumitrescu, was able to get a fingertip on but not enough to deny the goal,” Wiehl said. “One minute later FHHS was awarded a free kick in which Rori Smith struck a beauty from nearly 30 yards out, putting us up 4-2.”

The four goals that the Falcons scored in the first half equal the number of the total number of goals Gilbert Christian allowed in their regular season.

The Falcons got off to a rough start in the beginning of the second half with a red card forcing them to play a man down.

Gilbert Christian converted the penalty kick into a goal and added another goal in the 59th minute to end regulation play with a tie match, 4-4.

“Prior to the start of overtime I told the girls we were right where we wanted to be, that we didn't need to worry about scoring and if we continued to shut GCS down in overtime, we could force PKs,” Wiehl said. “I was confident we would win the shootout. We were prepared for penalty kicks if it had to come down to it.”

That confidence paid off with keeper Bayley Dumitrescu making a save during the penalty kicks and Madison George netting the winning goal.

“It was a remarkable and gritty performance by the Falcons to play a man down for over 50 minutes in a match that had it all,” Wiehl said. “There was literally blood, sweat and tears in this must-win match.”