By Don Ketchum

The girls’ soccer team from Tucson Catalina Foothills has become a fixture at the state tournament.

The Lady Falcons won the last two Class 4A Division I championships and have five overall under coach Charlie Kendrick.

That won’t stop the players from being a bit nervous in the first Division II state tournament. After all, it is a new year.

The players had what Kendrick called “a deer-in-the-headlights’’ look for the first part of their semifinal match against Phoenix Arcadia at Phoenix Paradise Valley on Thursday (Feb. 9).

The Lady Falcons got a goal on a direct kick by Jenna Glad and then settled down, adding two more first-half goals by Savanna Schmidt and then holding on for a 3-1 victory.

Catalina Foothills, the No. 3 seed, advances to Saturday’s (Feb. 11) championship match at Gilbert Campo Verde. Opponent for the 10:30 a.m. tussle will be either No. 1 seed Cave Creek Cactus Shadows or No. 4 Glendale Raymond S. Kellis, who played later Thursday.

Kendrick knew that Arcadia, the 10^th seed, “would be a tough opponent. We knew they would battle us. I think we needed to half a little more self-belief. We did not play our best soccer at times.’’

The Lady falcons picked up the pace and “we passed the ball all right,’’ Kendrick said. “I think that took some of the steam out of them.’’

Jumping on a team early makes it much more difficult for the opponent.

At halftime, Kendrick issued a reminder to his players that there still were 40 minutes left to play.

“I said, “You’d better not be thinking about Saturday right now,’ ’’ he said.

Arcadia scored on a goal by Alyssa Lamb with 23:31 left in the match and tried to keep the pressure on, but could not find the net again,

So there is one more to go for the Lady Falcons.

“We have the experience, about 15 or 16 players won the state title and they know what it takes to win, but experience only takes you so far. You have to go out on the field and play,’’ Kendrick said.