The Wood River girls? soccer team gathers for a team pose Saturday in rainy Meridian after beating Kuna 2-0 for the 4A consolation championship. Kneeling, from left, Lauren Eder, Danielle Smith, Brianna Hull-Mullins, Kacie Femling and Hilary Field. Standing, from left, head coach Greg Gvozdas, coach Rob Butterfield, Jessi Pieschl, Calley Brown, Ellen Ard, Ireland King, Erin McQueen, Gina Thomas, Michelle McMurdo, Ashley Mardian, Kaitlin Gasenica, Kaitlyn Farrington, Margii Driscoll, Katie Jensen and coach Doug Stouffer. Back row, from left, Danielle Donovan, Tara Cappel and Nicole Schulz. Express photo by David N. Seelig Photo by David N. Seelig
?We lost in the first round of the state tournament and it was our first loss of the season. But we gave it our best, and a 17-1-1 record isn?t bad.?
That?s what senior co-captain Ashley Mardian of the Wood River High School girls? varsity soccer team said after Saturday?s 2-0 win over Kuna that secured the consolation championship for the Wolverines at the school?s first-ever State 4A tourney.
Mardian said, ?We bonded on and off the field. On our room doors at the hotel we posted signs that said?win, lose or draw, today we will play like champions.?
Except for one hard-fought 2-1 loss to Moscow on Thursday, Wood River indeed played like champions during the eight-team tourney in rainy Meridian. And the girls brought home the consolation championship trophy.
Trailing 1-0 early, Wood River defeated Hillcrest of Idaho Falls 4-1 Friday and then clamped down on defense for the 2-0 success over Kuna Saturday morning.
Defense was Wood River?s calling card all season. The team set pre-season goals of scoring 70 goals or more and allowing fewer than 10 goals. They wanted to win all their home games. Missions accomplished.
In fact, this year?s Wood River team became the stingiest of all 12 Hailey girls? soccer teams?allowing four goals all season and equaling the 17-win victory mark of the undefeated State 3A champion team of 2000.
They had 16 shutouts in 19 games.
?We accomplished quite a few goals,? said first-year head coach Greg Gvozdas, whose Wolverine varsity and junior varsity teams over the past two seasons have a remarkable 31-1-2 record and 142-8 goals-against.
He added, ?The competition at state was stiffer for us. It was eye opening that, despite our great season, we still need to climb the ladder to get to where we can compete for the state championship in the 4A division.?
For now, the state championship belongs in the familiar hands of the Sandpoint Bulldogs. Sandpoint captured its third state title in four years with a 3-1 win over Moscow Saturday.
Playing with eight seniors, Moscow (15-6-2) suffered its third state championship game loss in four years. Sandpoint had nine seniors this year.
Sandpoint defeated Kuna 7-0 and Century of Pocatello 4-0 in its first two games. And 2003 state champion Century grabbed third place 3-1 over Vallivue of Caldwell on Saturday.
Now it?s up to Wood River to crack the top three. The Wolverines learned their lesson against Moscow.
The Bears, putting relentless pressure on the vaunted Hailey defense led by their senior stars Mia Tibbals and Jenny Tibbals, out-shot Wood River 19-10. They forced Hailey keeper Jesse Pieschl to make 13 saves, many spectacular, nine in the second half alone.
It looked good, early.
Leading Wood River scorer Margii Driscoll (22 goals), who scored at least one goal in 15 of 19 games, beat two Bear defenders and put the Wolverines ahead 1-0 at seven minutes after a fine lead pass by Kaitlin Gasenica.
Jenny Tibbals equalized at 15 minutes. Then, with the Wood River defense under constant pressure after the half, Moscow sophomore Grace Gardner caught Pieschl in no man?s land and lifted the eventual game winner over her head for the 2-1 final.
?They?re a good team. They got the best of us,? Gvozdas said afterward.
Added Moscow coach Ben Twigg, ?It was a big win. Wood River came in unbeaten and is a very good team. But we came in with confidence and played just a little better. We focused on us, not them. With a team like Wood River, you have to come out and attack. That?s what we did.?
Wood River defenders Gina Thomas and Brianna Hull-Mullins had the unenviable assignments of marking the Tibbals sisters. They did a decent job, as did Danielle Smith and always-reliable sweeper Katie Jensen, better known among Hailey fans as TGFKJ (Thank Goodness for Katie Jensen).
Gvozdas said, ?After the Moscow game we talked and decided that we still had a lot of playing to do?and we wanted to have our seniors go out with two wins.?
But Hillcrest scored first Friday, by freshman Caitlin Ball at 11 minutes. ?It was an unlucky play, with two of our fullbacks colliding,? said Gvozdas.
Wood River needed a big lift and got it from Margii Driscoll, whose combination of speed and power was rarely seen at the state tournament.
On the kickoff after Hillcrest?s go-ahead goal, Driscoll made a great individual effort and scored the equalizer. ?Margii basically took the kickoff and dribbled all the way down the field and scored a goal,? said Gvozdas.
From that point on, Wood River dominated. Eight minutes later Driscoll fired a shot that the Knights? keeper juggled?and senior Ireland King punched it home. Hillcrest took King down at 32 minutes and senior Gina Thomas made no mistake on the penalty kick. Sophomore Tara Cappel finished the scoring at 35 minutes.
Gvozdas said, ?After Margii countered with that first goal, I thought we were able to get pressure up front against Hillcrest. Because we were on our heels so much against Moscow, the pressure on offense enabled our fullbacks to get some rest.?
In another rain-splattered game Saturday, it was scoreless at half-time against Kuna. Gvozdas urged the girls that the game was there for the taking.
Midfielder Gasenica made another of her perfectly-struck lead passes that sent Driscoll in alone and Margii made it 1-0 with 10 minutes gone.
Eight minutes later a build-up from Gasenica to King gave the ball to Driscoll on the left wing. Margii elected to cut inside this time instead of out-running the defenders on the wing. She was tripped and the whistle blew.
Co-captain Gina Thomas, who bruised her eye doing a header and left the game with her eye swollen shut in the first half, had just returned to the field. Thomas drilled the penalty kick.
After that, Driscoll had no fewer than three breakaways but couldn?t convert any. The score could have been 5-0. It was sweet just the same.
?We were banged and bruised but it was good to get a trophy,? said Gvozdas. He and his assistant coaches Rob Butterfield and Doug Stouffer accepted the trophy from Blaine County superintendent Jim Lewis, designated by the Idaho High School Activities Association to present it.
The Wolverine team banquet is Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. at Rico?s in Ketchum.
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The Wood River girls? soccer team gathers for a team pose Saturday in rainy Meridian after beating Kuna 2-0 for the 4A consolation championship. Kneeling, from left, Lauren Eder, Danielle Smith, Brianna Hull-Mullins, Kacie Femling and Hilary Field. Standing, from left, head coach Greg Gvozdas, coach Rob Butterfield, Jessi Pieschl, Calley Brown, Ellen Ard, Ireland King, Erin McQueen, Gina Thomas, Michelle McMurdo, Ashley Mardian, Kaitlin Gasenica, Kaitlyn Farrington, Margii Driscoll, Katie Jensen and coach Doug Stouffer. Back row, from left, Danielle Donovan, Tara Cappel and Nicole Schulz. Express photo by David N. Seelig Photo by David N. Seelig
