Southern Nevada girls soccer stays in winter, keeps title match

RENO — High school girls soccer again will be played in the winter in the South’s Class 4A leagues next school year, and the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association reluctantly decided to continue to recognize two state champions.

After nearly an hour of debate, the association’s Board of Control voted Tuesday to crown a Northern Nevada state champion in the fall and a Southern Nevada champ in the winter for the eighth straight year.

But it took two motions and a lot of hand-wringing.

Last year the Clark County School District wanted to move girls soccer from winter to fall to coincide with Northern Nevada’s season, but the CCSD stuck with the status quo after the parent of a Green Valley High School player filed a Title IX lawsuit against the NIAA.

The association agreed to recognize North and South state champions only for the 2008-09 school year, but board president and CCSD executive athletic director Ray Mathis asked the board to continue the format for another year.

“The only way (Eric Johnson, the Green Valley parent) would not file a complaint would be if we were to add a girls sport in the winter season, which at this point we’re unable to do,” Mathis said.

“Nobody has said they agree with him, but his thought is we have reduced the number of opportunities for girls in the winter. Nobody we have talked to has agreed with that. The attorneys and superintendents say we know we’re out of (Title IX) compliance in other areas.”

And for that reason, the school district isn’t willing to take a chance on going to court.

The NIAA, also leery of a lawsuit if it failed to recognize two champions, acquiesced.

“We have lived up to our end of the settlement,” said Paul Anderson, the NIAA’s legal counsel. “Things have been thrown back into our lap now by the Clark County School District.

“If the board was to take the position that it has in the past, I can almost guarantee you we will be back in a lawsuit,” Anderson added. “I can’t prevent (Johnson) from bringing action against us again.”

Johnson’s daughter played volleyball in the fall and soccer in the winter for the Gators last season. If the NIAA were to crown only one champion and the CCSD wanted to participate in the title match, it would have to move girls soccer to the fall.

“It’s unfair that one parent of one student can hold the entire state’s girls soccer program hostage because that girl has to choose whether to play soccer or volleyball,” NIAA executive director Eddie Bonine said.

Bonine said the NIAA spent $25,000 last year fighting Johnson’s lawsuit before settling.

“I don’t want to spend any NIAA money fighting a battle that isn’t ours,” Bonine said. “We really shouldn’t be fighting this.”
He said two parents of students in Northern Nevada have threatened a lawsuit to force a single state champion but haven’t taken action.

“We’ll go one more year with the status quo until someone in the North gets angry and files suit.”