Photo by James Parrish North Platte's Taylor Banark dribbles the ball while being defended by Brianna Buchman of Fremont.

Photo by James Parrish Maggie Bianco tracks down a throw-in in the second half against Fremont.

Photo by James Parrish Marisa Martinez sets up for a corner kick.

The North Platte High School girls' soccer team took care of business on Monday by beating Fremont 7-1 in the A-5 district semifinals at Bauer Field.

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On Wednesday, the Lady Bulldogs (14-2) will play Lincoln Southwest (12-5) in the district finals. Southwest, the No. 2-seed in the A-5 defeated Lincoln Northeast 6-0 in the other Monday semifinal game.

With the fifth best point total in the NSAA wild card standings, North Platte earned homefield advantage for districts and the Lady Dawgs drew Fremont.

NPHS got on top early with Taylor Banark penetrating into the goal box and then passing to Kaysee Lewis, who put the ball in the net, five minutes into the game.

Almost 15 minutes later, the Bulldogs scored again the same way; Banark made a run deep into Fremont's end and she passed the ball to Kaitlynn Harvey who had an open look at the net.

Banark, a sophomore who has started in the midfield for two years, had a lot of success dribbling the ball and getting past the Tigers' defenders.

"She's a talented player and she's got good touch on the ball," North Platte coach Sarah Kaminski said of Banark.

At the 38 minute mark, Madalynn Doughty scored to make it 3-0 and then a minute later, Breezy Jahnke scored by shooting a ball that never left the ground and rolled past Fremont goalie Gabby Weyhrich and in.

The Lady Dawgs got a couple of goals early in the second half. In the 47th minute, Kenzie Michaels scored to make it 5-0 and then three minutes later, Maggie Bianco scored directly off of a corner kick by Marisa Martinez from the right side.

The Tigers (3-13) got on the board in the 58th minute when Erin Krohn scored what would be their final goal of the season.

But with about three minutes left, Banark, who assisted the first two goals, finally got one of her own to finish the game for NPHS.

Kaminski said that her team is poised to make it to state for the first time in three years. She believes that her team has improved enough with its passing to do so.

"The girls have just learned that they can be a powerhouse just with their passing," said Kaminski. "They're at their peak right now with their passing and that's nice to see in districts."

To get to state, the Bulldogs will have to get past Lincoln Southwest. The Silverhawks, who have already become a powerhouse in girls' soccer since the school opened 10 years ago, got an impressive win over Capital City rival Northeast on Monday and they will be a tough battle for North Platte.

"We haven't seen them yet but Southwest is a talented team," Kaminski said. "They're similar to Lincoln Southeast and Lincoln East. Their touch on the ball is very good. But I think if we can come out and give everything we have, we'll have a good shot to win."

Fremont 0 1 - 1

North Platte 4 3 - 7