Wood River finally takes down D?backs 4-0
Fired-up Wolverines throttle defending champs
By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer
Kacie Femling, Wood River junior midfielder, scored her first varsity goal at a great time Saturday. Her header, from Calley Brown, gave the Wolverines an early 1-0 lead. Photo by Willy Cook
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Leading scorer Margii Driscoll and the rest of the Wood River High School girls? varsity soccer team woke up Saturday morning with one objective?to play hard and finally beat the Century Diamondbacks.
It didn?t take long for Wood River (10-0-1, 4-0 league) to put the reigning State 4A champion Century Diamondbacks (6-2-3) in their pocket for the very first time before an appreciative Hailey crowd of nearly 200.
Wood River scored three goals in the first 18 minutes, two by junior striker Driscoll, and vaulted over Pocatello-based Century for a 4-0 victory at South Valley Sports Complex soccer field in Hailey.
Driscoll (15 goals season) finished the game with three goals and sophomore Kacie Femling tallied a single.
Never had Wood River beaten Century, in fact, the Wolverines had never scored upon the Diamondbacks in three 6-0 losses and one 4-0 setback during the 2002 and 2003 seasons, and a 0-0 tie in Pocatello Sept. 16.
?Century had our number over the last couple of years but I thought it was a good opportunity for us to get them on our home field,? said first-year Wood River coach Greg Gvozdas.
About Wood River?s quick start, Gvozdas said, ?We?ve been struggling out of the gate but our forwards really stepped up?Margii, Erin (McQueen) and Kaitlin (Gasenica). As a team we played with great intensity and very smart, from our starters to our bench.?
Applying constant pressure and denying Century any chances to build up its offense, the Wolverines out-shot the Diamondbacks 11-1 in the first half and 17-3 for the game. The number of corner kicks was lopsided as well in favor of Wood River 5-0.
Century likes to build its offense from the back, but the D?backs barely got the ball past midfield against the aggressive Wolverine midfielders and defense in the decisive first half.
Gvozdas said, ?We?re not going to allow a team to build and go the whole 110 yards on us. Defense is the backbone of our team, and you can?t ask for much more than what we got from Jessi (Pieschl), Danielle (Smith), Katie (Jensen) and Gina (Thomas).?
Speed is unteachable in soccer, and deep Wood River has plenty of speed. The Wolverines constantly beat the D?backs to balls and earned several corner kicks in the early going.
Calley Brown?s corner kick bounced to Femling in the box, and Femling headed it over the Century keeper for a 1-0 lead five minutes into the 80-minute contest. It was the first varsity goal for Femling.
After a pass from Gasenica, Driscoll took advantage of a Century defensive bobble and blasted past two D?back defenders at the 13-minute mark. She drilled the ball into the net at the far post for a 2-0 Hailey lead.
A through ball from Gasenica sent Driscoll in at the 18-minute mark and the left-footed striker made no mistake for a 3-0 cushion. Seven minutes after half, Driscoll assertively knocked the ball away from two D?backs, swung left and grounded her hat trick goal into the net for the 4-0 final.
Thursday, Wood River (33 goals scored, 1 against) improved its Great Basin Conference West record to 4-0 with a 2-0 road victory over the Minico Spartans at Rupert. Danielle Smith and Driscoll scored.
The Wolverines are currently ranked second behind Emmett (12-1-1) in the Idahosports.com poll of Idaho?s top 4A girls? soccer schools. Emmett lost its only game 4-2 to Middleton. Rounding out the top five are Blackfoot, Century and Moscow.
The district tournament opens Thursday, Oct. 14.
