Hailey boys stay unbeaten in soccer
With 4-2 road win over Century
Rolling along toward the post-season, the top-ranked Wood River High School boys? varsity soccer team improved its season record to 9-0-1 last week with a 4-2 road win over Century and a 6-0 home league romp over Minico?s Spartans.
Wood River, last year?s State 3A champion, is unbeaten in 20 consecutive games since its 2-1 loss at Century last Oct. 1. And coach Farrell Swain?s Wolverines, outscoring opponents 44-11, show no signs of a let up.
Swain said, ?We?ve been scoring goals and playing to the end of the game?and our bench has been huge for us. But we do have some communication problems we need to work on. We?re not holding the middle in our center backfield.?
Indeed, Century slipped through the Wood River defense twice Saturday, but the visiting Wolverines were fortunate to have an early lead and a 3-1 half-time margin.
Junior Bryce Newcomb crossed to sophomore Carl Jablonski, who scored his eighth goal just 51 seconds into the game. A free kick by junior Audie McCann went to junior Spencer Cordovano, and he made it 2-0 in the 11th minute.
Century scored for a 2-1 game but Wood River restored its two-goal cushion on the subsequent kickoff?when passes from Jablonski and McCann sent Cordovano in for his sixth goal and a 3-1 lead.
After the half, Century made it 3-2 in the 14th minute, but Cordovano?s free kick went to McCann who gave Wood River breathing room with his team-leading 13th goal at 20 minutes.
Defensively, the Wolverines excelled led by co-captain Sagen Howard, said Swain.
Senior Reno Christino marked Century?s co-captain Andrew McAteer. Willie Meyers and Garrett Leo did a good job making Century?s other threat Rue Van Dyke. McAteer and Van Dyke scored the goals for Century (5-4-2.
The Diamondbacks are likely to be the Fifth District champion, having beaten Preston twice 4-0 and 1-0 and having defeated Pocatello 2-1. So Fourth District power Wood River might still play Century in the upcoming post-season.
Last Thursday Wood River?s home unbeaten streak improved to 15 games with the 6-0 Great Basin Conference West victory over Minico?s Spartans.
?We dominated and had a bunch of chances,? said Swain, who added that Wood River had 20 shots in the first half.
McCann finished with a three-goal hat trick, the first two goals coming in the first half?in the second minute from Cordovano, and in the 40th minute from Howard. McCann made it 3-0 early in the second half, from Byron Epp.
Rounding out the Wood River scorers were Epp (from McCann), Meyers (from Cory Rutkowski) and Michael Connor (Taylor Sundali).
Everyone played for Wood River, with starting keeper Kristian Timmons tending the net in the first half and back-up goalkeeper Jesse Stark preserving the shutout in the second.
Next: Wood River goes to Jerome (3-8-1, 1-3 league) today, Wednesday for a 4:30 p.m. Great Basin Conference West game. Jerome, a 2-0 and 7-1 loser to Burley as well as a 6-1 loser to Wood River Sept. 14, has beaten only Buhl, Minico and Mountain Home.
The district?s regular-season champion will be determined next week on the Hailey pitch.
Wood River holds its ?Senior Night,? Tuesday, Oct. 12 against Burley (7-2-2, 3-1 league) at South Valley Sports Complex soccer field. Burley will be seeking revenge for its 4-1 home loss to Wood River.
Burley squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads and settled for a 3-3 tie at Century Sept. 28.
Wood River seniors playing their final regular-season game Tuesday will be co-captains Howard and Ted Dankanyin along with Christino, Levi Crandall, Epp, Meyers, Manuel Serrato and Timmons.
The Fourth District 4A tournament opens Thursday, Oct. 14.
