Twin Falls holds off Cutthroat boys 4-3
Tourney starts Monday for SV boys
Community School senior defender and co-captain Reed Boeger drills a shot during Saturday?s home game against Twin Falls. Boeger scored the third Sun Valley goal and nearly netted the equalizer. Photo by Willy Cook
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The 3A Community School boys? varsity soccer team wrapped up its regular-season slate with a non-conference soccer match against 5A Twin Falls Saturday in Elkhorn.
The deep Bruins (8-3-2) staved off a second-half surge by the Cutthroats to win 4-3. It was Sun Valley?s second loss of the 2004 season (8-2-2 overall record) and only the second time they have ever lost at Browning Field.
Despite missing five senior starters, Twin Falls controlled the play from the outset. With crisp passing and superior communication, the Bruins spread the field and opened with two crossing shots, which barely missed.
Fourteen minutes into the first half, Jack Mikesell broke through to put the Bruins on the scoreboard. A minute later, the Cutthroats almost equalized. Max Danielson?s left-footed shot was just wide.
Twin Falls countered at the 17-minute mark when speedy right wing Juan Santos converted a pass by Denis Pavlovic to put the Bruins up 2-nil. Two minutes later, another Santos score gave Twin a 3-0 lead.
And the momentum.
Despite some ragged play and wild kicks, the Cutthroats kept the pressure on and gained a toehold in the game?when forward Bobby Flanigan (13 goals) dribbled through four defenders and beat the goalie for a 3-1 score.
By half Twin was out-shooting Sun Valley 8-5. The Cutthroats would close the margin in the second stanza. Both teams took plenty of shots on goal, but Twin only managed one more than its host, 11-10 in the second half.
Travis Stone just missed on a roller and also unleashed a point-blank shot that the goalie got in front in.
Santos scored his third goal of the game at the seven-minute mark, but Alden Remington corralled a pass by Spencer Harris and answered three minutes later for a 4-2 score.
Three minutes later, the score stood at 4-3 after Reed Boeger went lower right corner. Boeger nearly netted the equalizer when he cracked a shot from 35-yards out that the goalie got a hand on. But the potential tie goal skimmed off the crossbar.
Cutthroat goalie Regan O?Reilly finished with 10 saves (9 in the second half) and made several fine stops to keep his team in the game.
After the game, Cutthroat coach Richard Whitelaw said, ?I liked the way we came back and didn?t hang our heads.?
Whitelaw singled out Flanigan and Boeger for ?Man of the Match? honors. ?Bobby and Reed were excellent. They led by example,? he said.
Tournament is next
In his 13th year as head coach, Whitelaw is sitting on 149 wins and hopes to earn 150 in the second round of the 3A district tournament, which the top-seeded Cutthroats (7-1-2 league) will host on Monday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. at Browning Field in Elkhorn.
Here is the tournament schedule for the six-team tournament starting with two games on Saturday, Oct. 16:
#3 Wendell hosts #6 Filer at 11 a.m. and #4 Buhl entertains #5 Declo Saturday at 11 a.m. Losers are done for the year.
The #1 Cutthroats host the Buhl-Declo winner Monday at 4 p.m. while #2-ranked Bliss entertains the Wendell-Filer survivor at 4 p.m. Monday.
Championship game is set for Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 4 p.m., hosted by the Cutthroats if they win Monday?s game. The second-place game takes place Friday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. at the field of the higher seed. At stake are two berths in the State 3A meet Oct. 28 in Boise.
