Friday, October 8, 2004

Fit to be tied

Cutthroats?Wendell play to a draw


The temperature dropped 14 degrees from start to finish, but the action on the field remained heated from beginning to end.

In a 3A boys? district soccer matchup in Sun Valley Tuesday, The Community School (8-1-2) forged a 1-1 tie against the Wendell Trojans. The draw locked down first place in the league for the Cutthroats and secured homefield advantage in the upcoming district soccer tournament.

The tie not only improved Sun Valley?s standing for the post-season it was a moral victory as well. The Trojans are the only team to defeat the Cutthroats this season, which they did to the tune of 1-0 back on Sept. 13.

Cutthroat coach Richard Whitelaw remarked, ?We played well. It was better than the last time we played them.?

In Whitelaw?s words, the pace was ?frenetic? from the outset, which is typical of two evenly matched teams ? no one gains possession because no one is connecting their passes.

Both squads had chances, however. 14 minutes into the game a corner kick by freshman Connor Brown bounced off the back of a defender?s head and goalie Junior Cortez barely corralled the rebound.

Halfback Wes Flanigan lofted a soft cross to brother Bobby, who was just wide with a head flick. Later, Bobby, the team?s leading scorer with 12 goals, slipped when he was well ahead on a breakaway.

The Cutthroat defense was stalwart and chased down everything that came at them. Sweeper Kevin Wade was a vocal leader throughout the match, and brother Connor effectively neutralized dangerous striker Damian Diaz. Ross Campbell held down the right side. Ben Roth, playing his first game at stopper did a fine job, taking over for Ryon Campbell, whose foot was scalded by boiling water and is reportedly out for the rest of the season.

?They hustled and worked hard for each other,? Whitelaw commented.

Scoreless at halftime, a determined Trojan side took the field in the second stanza and got off two shots in the first three minutes. The second went in.

Laercio Franco diced two defenders ? one of their few lapses ? and scorched the back of the net with a low rocket.

Redoubling their effort, the Cutthroats went to work with Man of the Match Connor Brown making several nice passes to spring his forwards. 6:27 in, Brown made a sweet lad pass to Bobby Flanigan, but he was taken down in the box, leading to a penalty kick. He converted and Kevin Wade crowed, ?Game on, boys!?

Seconds later Wes Flanigan launched a great shortside shot, but the athletic Cortez (5 saves) made an improbable stabbing save with his right foot.

Cutthroat goalie Regan O?Reilly (7 saves) made several sweet stops as well, but he needed help from Wes Flanigan when a corner kick went through his hands and wavered dangerously close to the goal line before Flanigan cleared it out. The Trojans dominated on corner kicks, 11-4 and outshot their host 10-6.

At the end of the hard-fought game, Whitelaw echoed the comments of Junior Cortez, who said, ?I am sad we couldn?t win, but at least we didn?t lose.?

Whitelaw concurred, ?I am happy with the tie.?

5-0 at Browning Field, the Cutthroats will host Twin Falls on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 3:30 p.m. at Browning Field.

The state-qualifying district tournament begins Saturday, Oct. 16. The top two seeds will have a bye the first day, so the Cutthroats will open play on Oct. 18.




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