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photo by Jim Craven South Salem's Chrissy Steiger, left, surges past a fallen Noelle Reed of South Medford. Saxsons' second-half surge sinks South By KRIS HENRY South Medford's return to the girls soccer state playoffs came to an unceremonious end Saturday as South Salem scored four goals to break a 1-1 halftime tie and gain a 5-1 first-round victory at Fichtner-Mainwaring Park. "I think they capitalized on every mistake we made," said Panther senior Iris Noack. South Salem senior Amanda Orand scored three minutes into the second half to take a 2-1 lead, which grew to 3-1 three minutes later as a cross by Heather Wilds ricocheted off the extended leg of Panther senior Stacey Lambert and into the goal. With South Medford deflated, Orand added two more goals to close out the Panther's season. "We tend to put our heads down when teams get goals and we don't get our heads back up very easily," Noack said. "I think that's what happened today. Our defense just didn't get their heads back up." Regardless of how the season ended, first-year coach Leslie Lang said she was proud of how the Panthers performed this season in finishing tied with North Medford for the Southern Oregon Conference championship. "We have done some amazing things this season, individually and as a team," said Lang. "That's what I want them to take away with them. I just told them after the game that we had a successful season and to take that memory with them rather than the memory of this game." Junior forward Tiffany Mason said she would take both memories into next season, as well as one overwhelming thought. "We'll be back next year," she said. The Panthers roared out in front at the 10-minute mark, with Noack drilling a left-footed shot past Saxon goalkeeper Cori Wulf from 35 yards out. Sophomore Emily Perttu set up the goal by stealing the ball at midfield and then slipping it to Noack. South Medford maintained its 1-0 lead through most of the first half, thanks in part to some exceptional play in goal by junior Kristal Capsey. The Saxons tested the young goalie time after time, with Capsey proving equal to the task with four diving saves. Sophomore defender Kathleen Narus also came up big for the Panthers, sacrificing her body to smother a rebound effort after Wilds' initial shot bounded off the goal post. South Salem's aggressive control of play in the first half finally paid off at the 40 minute mark, with Lisa Narkiewicz settling the ball in space and booming a rising left-footed shot over Capsey to tie the contest 1-all. Lang said she wasn't discouraged after the Panthers gave up the late goal in the first half. "I wasn't too concerned because we're a second-half team. Normally, the second half is where we play our game. It just didn't happen for us in the second half today, and I don't really know why." Lang credited Capsey and the South Medford defense for keeping South Salem at bay as long as possible. "South Salem had a lot of shots in that first half," said the coach. "They had so much momentum that I think it threw us off a little bit. They had chance after chance there for a little while. Kristal had some incredible saves today." South Salem advances to a second-round match against the Newberg-Lakeridge winner on Tuesday. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford,