Margii Driscoll and Nicole Schulz were the seniors honored by the Wood River High School girls' soccer team during Wednesday's regular-season finale against the Burley Bobcats at Homer Field in Hailey.
The question was—would they get their goals? It's customary for Wood River to make sure the seniors are given the best possible chances to score goals in their final home game. Last year, six of the seven seniors scored in the "Senior Night," finale.
It didn't take long for Driscoll to get her goal Wednesday in what became a relatively routine 8-0 Wolverine victory. It was Wood River's sixth shutout in the last seven games.
One minute into the 80-minute contest, Hailey's all-time single-season scoring leader took a left-wing pass from Brianna Hull-Mullins and stuck a shot into the Bobcat net.
Driscoll (36 goals season, 74 career) added bang-bang goals in the first 90 seconds of the second half to finish with three goals—the eighth time in 16 games that Driscoll has scored three or more goals this year.
Making sure that the team's captain, Schulz, got her goal was a little more problematic.
It wasn't for lack of effort. All through the second half, with Wood River winning 6-0, the Wolverine players made a concerted effort to get the ball to Schulz in front of the net. Time after time, freshman Sam Johnson came charging down the right wing and yelled Schulz's name before crossing a ball.
Finally, Wood River coach Greg Gvozdas got into the act.
Calley Brown was awarded a direct kick just inside the midfield stripe. She was quite a distance away from the net, and all the way across the field from the Wood River player's bench—where Gvozdas stood, raising his arms in the air like he was signaling a football touchdown. He yelled loudly to Brown.
"Calley, over here!" he shouted, suggesting that Brown use her long-kicking ability to land the ball near him. Brown did exactly what she was told and sent a monster kick some 45 yards across the field, right onto the foot of speedy freshman Sam Johnson along the Wolverine right wing.
Johnson gathered the ball, took a dribble and made a quick cross to the box, where Schulz volleyed it home. The bang-bang play was the prettiest goal of the game and got the job done. Then, Hull-Mullins closed out the scoring with a typical hustle play.
Meanwhile, Johnson (8 goals season) accounted for two goals herself in the first half. The first came at 17 minutes, when she rebounded a hard Hull-Mullins shot off the crossbar. And the second was a length-of-the-field number. Goalkeeper Ciati Leo (7 saves) sent a great kick out to Aimee Evans on the right wing just shy of midfield and Evans passed it ahead to Johnson. Sam took it down the middle for a 4-0 halftime lead.
Top-seeded Wood River (12-2-2 overall, 6-1-1 home, 6-0 league) out-shot Burley 36-2 in a tune-up for Saturday's Great Basin Conference West tournament opener against #4-seeded Jerome. That game is scheduled for 11 a.m. at South Valley Sports Complex soccer field, Hailey.
