After 80 minutes of hard-fought soccer, Saturday night's season-opening non-league girls' game between 5A Twin Falls and 4A Wood River ended in a 2-2 tie on a warm night at Homer Field in Hailey.
Last year's leading scorer Margii Driscoll scored both Wood River goals in the first half, cashing in on assists by junior midfielders Kaitlin Gasenica and Calley Brown.
Both coaches, Greg Gvozdas of Wood River and Steve Schmid of Twin Falls, came out of the game with good things to say.
"It was a confidence builder," said Gvozdas about his young Wolverine squad, which has only three seniors. Schmid, whose team rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to equalize, said, "Wood River is a great team. I was very happy with our second half."
The key to the Twin Falls comeback was finding a way to contain Driscoll in the second half. And the encouraging part of the Wood River effort was the play of sophomore goalkeeper Catie Leo, in her first start, and the shooting ability of freshman Aimee Evans.
Gvozdas said, "Catie Leo came up very big in her first game on varsity. Aimee Evans coming out of the midfield and creating opportunities for us was important, as we continue to work on our connections between our midfielders and our forwards."
Driscoll (22 goals last season, now 40 goals career) collected a Gasenica lead pass and tucked the first goal home at the 10-minute mark. The leading Twin Falls scorer from last year, lightning-quick forward Marissa Sanchez, pulled the trigger from just outside the 18 and hit the top corner at 30 minutes.
Calley Brown, from midfield, sent Driscoll along the left wing and she outraced the Bruin defense for a 2-1 lead at the 35-minute mark. Meanwhile, keeper Leo made two great saves in the final two minutes to keep Wood River in the lead 2-1 at half. Leo made eight saves before half.
Twin Falls regrouped. Schmid said, "We missed an assignment early on #9 (Driscoll) and that really set us on our heels for the rest of the half. We were kind of shell-shocked. She (Driscoll) is a very physical player with explosive speed. If she has an opening, she's through."
In the second half Twin Falls went to a 5-3-2 with a two-man front, man-marking Driscoll with defender Risa Casperson. "We kept our four-man defense and marked #9 with Risa to neutralize her. I was also happy with Annie Watkins and our stopper Ashton Ford who play so well together in the middle."
Twin Falls kept mounting its offensive pressure in the second half until, with only 17 minutes left, Watkins and Laura Filas came up with a terrific combination—Filas scoring the equalizer back against the grain as Leo had no chance.
Wood River sophomore defender Michelle McMurdo preserved the 2-2 tie by clearing out a seemingly sure Sanchez goal one minute later. Then the Wolverines poured on the pressure in the final 15 minutes. Driscoll, Gasenica and Kaitlyn Farrington all had chances that might have gone in.
Gvozdas was reflective. He said, "Twin Falls is always such a good game for us, a benchmark, really a good jumping-off point for the rest of the season. They are quick up front and physical and we have to gear up for that. A back-and-forth game like this opens up the field and helps get us ready for October."
Unfortunately Wood River won't have its dependable senior sweeper Katie Jensen in October. Although Jensen played Saturday night, and played well, it was her final game because she has accepted an offer to attend a music camp in Michigan for the remainder of the 2005-06 year.
"Once again Katie was real solid at the back. We'll miss her but we all wish her well," said Gvozdas.
Wood River (0-0-1), which won at Twin Falls 2-0 last year and still holds a 16-3-5 advantage in the series, debuts its Great Basin Conference West season today, Wednesday at Minico. Twin Falls (7-10 last season, 1-0-1 this season) defeated Burley 6-0 on Monday.
On Saturday, Sept. 3, Wood River travels to McCall and plays the Emmett girls at 3 p.m. and the McCall girls at 7 p.m. Emmett (2-0) pounded Weiser 11-1 in its opener last weekend and beat Kuna 3-2 Monday.
Brianna Hull-Mullins, Wood River junior, played a big role in holding down a good Twin Falls team Saturday in Hailey. Photo by David N. Seelig
