Zero streak ends, but girls beat Pokey 3-1
WRHS girls? soccer (7-0-1) stays hot
By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer
Tara Cappel assisted on Wood River?s first goal and scored the second against Pocatello. Photo by David N. Seelig
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Wood River High School girls? varsity soccer coach Greg Gvozdas knew that the Pocatello Indians would be a dangerous opponent when they visited Hailey Tuesday.
He was right. Pocatello held the unbeaten Wolverines to a 0-0 half-time tie and then did something that no team had done to Wood River all season. Pocatello scored a goal against the stingy Hailey defense.
Fortunately for the home team, Wood River held a 2-0 lead when Pocatello freshman Adria Mead took a pass from junior Alysa Adams and scored 33 minutes into the second half. Then Wood River added a goal to finish with a 3-1 triumph.
Ireland King, Tara Cappel and Kaitlin Gasenica scored the Wood River goals. The defense in front of goalkeeper Jessi Pieschl was led by Katie Jensen, Danielle Smith and senior captain Ashley Mardian.
Wood River has been dominating but the Hailey girls out-shot Pocatello by only 18-10.
Pocatello?s goal ended a string of 632 minutes in which Wood River?s defense had held opponents scoreless?including seven straight shutouts.
But the big thing was getting the win, which is what Gvozdas told the Wolverines (7-0-1, 4-0 home) after Tuesday?s home triumph over the Pocatello Indians (4-3-1). Wood River thus swept the season series, having won in Pocatello 3-0 Sept. 7.
?The streak we want is the one that has to do with victories,? said Gvozdas. ?But I thought Pocatello was a much better team than their record showed. They are a team to watch out for.?
Pocatello coach Doug Merkley was impressed with Wood River. Merkley said, ?They have speed, strength and size at both ends. They frustrate us. Wood River has good quality players and they are well coached. We?d have to play a whole game to beat them.?
The Indians came out strong and pressured keeper Pieschl from the start, but leading Wood River scorer Margii Driscoll started picking up the pace and put a series of solid shots on the Tribe goalie. Lauren Eder contributed some timely minutes at forward.
Gvozdas said, ?Pocatello had good speed up front and they try to build out of the midfield. A team like that will always play tough with us. But we need to come out of the gate a little stronger.?
Contributing to Wood River?s slow start Tuesday was the absence of three starters, who were ill. They were senior co-captain and defender Gina Thomas, senior MF/F Erin McQueen and sophomore midfielder Kacie Femling.
The coach explained, ?In their absence we needed a couple of girls to step up, and we got those efforts from Tara (Cappel) up front, Brianna (Hull-Mullins) in the midfield and Ashley (Mardian) in back.
?The strength of our team is that we?re deep.?
Cappel made a pretty lead pass to senior Ireland King, who scored her fourth goal three minutes into the second half. Five minutes later Gasenica delivered a pass to Cappel, who hammered a 28-yard shot into the corner of net for her third goal and a 2-0 lead.
Driscoll, who had her five-game scoring streak ended in the 0-0 tie with Century Sept. 16 in Pocatello, drilled a very hard shot off the crossbar, assisted by Danielle Smith, in a vain attempt to make it 3-0.
Pocatello?s Adams and Mead then slipped behind the Wood River defense for the scoreless-streak snapper and a 2-1 game.
Wood River?s defense rose to the occasion, holding off Pocatello?s fired-up troops as the minutes ticked away. Then Gasenica was tripped and floated a tough-angled 32-yard direct kick over the Indian keeper?s leap for the 3-1 final score at the 78-minute mark.
After Pocatello scored its goal, Gvozdas said he looked at his players on the field and saw their shoulders sag a bit because the scoreless streak was over. But the game was still on the line. ?It was important for us to be able to counter quickly after Pocatello?s goal,? he said.
Pocatello coach Merkley was disappointed with the outcome. He said, ?We dominated a little early in both halves. But we also showed a lack of maturity with two breakdowns in our back line and the third goal coming on a goalkeeper error.?
Thursday afternoon, Wood River hosted Burley, a 3-1 loser at home to Twin Falls Tuesday.
Burley (0-7, 0-2 league after its 6-1 loss at Minico and 3-2 loss to Jerome), was the only team Wood River had yet to play this season. And next Thursday, Wood River goes to Rupert to play Minico.
WOLVERINE NOTES?Although Wood River?s scoreless streak was remarkable, it wasn?t unheard of in the 12-year annals of Wolverine girls? soccer. Wood River teams posted 82 shutouts in 178 games from 1993-2003 including an incredible 60 shutouts in 106 games during a six-year stretch from 1996-2001.
The stingiest team was the 17-0-2 state championship squad of 2000 that outscored opponents 107-5 and had nine consecutive shutouts?and was unscored upon in three state tournament games...Prior to this season, Pocatello was one of only nine schools that had a winning record in girls? soccer games played against Wood River over 12 seasons. Now, Wood River leads the series 2-1-1.
