TAMPA -- The Miami Springs girls' soccer team gave a new meaning to a two-minute warning Wednesday.

Someone should have warned Springs about the first two minutes.

That was the difference -- all the difference in the world.

That's why Parkland Douglas is playing in the Class 6A state title game Thursday night and Springs is not.

And if you want to get picky, it wasn't even two minutes -- it was one minute, 33 seconds.

That's how long it took Douglas to score twice in the state semifinals at Pepin Stadium, where the Eagles advanced with a 2-0 victory and goalkeeper Kelsey Wys tied the state record with her 22nd shutout.

Anyone who knows anything about girls' high school soccer knows you can't give Douglas a 2-0 lead, not with All-American Wys hanging around the net.

''When you get a lead like that and you have a goalkeeper at the level of Kelsey, it changes your posture. It changes the game,'' said Douglas coach Stu Katz.

Believe or not, it was Springs' plan to come out and score early.

''Our game plan was to do to them what they did to us,'' Springs coach William Drew said.

``We knew they had a great goalkeeper, and we wanted to score early and put that in her mind. But they [got the 2-0 lead early] and it's hard to recover from that.''

Springs (25-1-2) made Wys work for shutout No. 22, and the only reason the game didn't go into overtime was because of her two brilliant saves.

The first came in the 18th minute of the game when Courtney Destaphano blasted a shot that was headed for the left corner.

But Wys, who plays for the USA under-18 team, made a diving one-handed grab to keep the score at 2-0.

Springs put another scare into Wys midway through the second half, when Emily Drew slammed a shot toward the right side.

But again, Wys was there to thwart Springs, diving and saving Douglas.

Abby Carr, Springs' emotional and physical leader who has carried this team all season, plays on the same club team as Douglas defender Vanessa Sanchez and knows Wys.

They both have accepted scholarships to Florida State University.

After watching Wys save everything, Carr was asked what she thought of the Douglas goalkeeper.

''Let me put it this way,'' Carr said, ``I'm happy she will be on my team at Florida State.''

Carr, a junior, plans on graduating early, in December, and this might have been her last game at Miami Springs, which failed for the second year in a row to reach the state championship game.

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