Virgin Valley edges White Pine in 3A girls soccer play-in

Virgin Valley was just waiting for the right moment to unveil its secret offensive weapon.

The Bulldogs, in the middle of what appeared to be their sixth straight half of scoreless soccer against White Pine this season, turned to goalkeeper Jacque Olive for an offensive spark Tuesday.

Mission accomplished.

Olive scored two goals just three minutes apart and led Virgin Valley (7-10-5) to a 2-1 win over White Pine in the Class 3A girls Southern League play-in match at Bettye Wilson Park. Virgin Valley advances to meet top-seeded Faith Lutheran (14-0) in a semifinal match at 4 p.m. Friday in Mesquite.

“There’s absolutely no reason she shouldn’t be playing college soccer next year,” Virgin Valley coach Terry Ogden said. “She’s just a fantastic player.”

The two teams played to two 0-0 ties in the regular season and were scoreless in the 63rd minute of Tuesday’s match when White Pine (3-11-3) was whistled for a foul approximately 25 yards from the Bobcats’ net.

Olive, who made five saves, raced up the field to take the free kick and drilled a laser underneath the crossbar and inside the left post to give Virgin Valley a 1-0 lead.

“I just looked where I wanted it to go and kicked it,” Olive said. “I did what it took to score a goal.”

Three minutes later and after another White Pine foul, Olive connected again, this time scoring inside the right post.

“We had a few small errors that made a big difference,” White Pine coach Rebecca Byers said. “We just made some small mistakes.”
Until the midway point of the second half, Olive’s best work had come in the closing stages of the first half, when she stopped White Pine’s Teal Collins and Tiffany Pyeatt.

The Bobcats finally solved Olive in the 71st minute, when Sierra Harris headed in Collins’ cross pass from the right side, but White Pine never got another shot away.

“The girls gave it their all,” Byers said. “In the past, we’ve gotten down and they’ve given up, but they gave 150 percent today. I’m proud of them.”

Olive took one more free kick with five minutes remaining but was stopped from 30 yards out.

Ogden said before the match he hoped to work Olive in at forward at some point in the match. When she came out of the goal to take the free kicks, a defender took her place.

A free kick that stays in play is a live ball, meaning Olive could have to race back to her own net if the opponent got control of the ball.

“It’s something that people would probably think is risky, but they don’t know Jacque like we do,” Ogden said. “We put some speed back when she comes up, and they’d have to get some sort of lucky shot. When it’s inside of 40 yards, I have no problem giving her a shot.”