"Senior Night" turned into a tightly contested 4-0 Great Basin Conference West triumph for the unbeaten Wood River High School girls' varsity soccer team Tuesday.
Wood River (11-0-1, 4-0 league) nailed down the regular-season Great Basin championship with the victory and improved its scoring edge to 22-0 over league foes, and 58-6 overall in its 12 games this fall.
But the Jerome Tigers came up to Hailey's football stadium and played top-ranked Idaho 4A school Wood River tough. Jerome challenged each ball, played smart defense and prevented Wolverine attacks.
Wolverine coach Greg Gvozdas gave his eight seniors most of the playing time and restricted the minutes of his speedy sophomore scorers Sam Johnson, Aimee Evans and Delaney Fox. Nevertheless Jerome was a worthy opponent for Hailey.
The Wolverines out-shot Jerome 21-6 and earned a 5-0 edge in corner kicks, but junior goalkeeper Caiti Leo (7 saves) was unusually busy. Leo made a great save on a breakaway by Jerome freshman Aubree Callen at 65 minutes to preserve Wood River's seventh shutout of 2006.
Brianna Hull-Mullins (9 goals), a senior midfielder who has scored in eight of the 11 Hailey games, controlled the midfield with senior teammate Calley Brown. Hull-Mullins provided Wood River with a 1-0 half-time lead at 36 minutes.
Another senior, Ellen Ard, dropped a pass to Brown, who cranked a 30-yard shot in the corner of the Jerome net for a 2-0 lead at 47 minutes. A nice build-up from Hull-Mullins to senior Kaitlin Gasenica to senior Tara Cappel ended up in an 18-yard goal by sophomore Elsa Sweek at the 62-minute mark.
Jerome senior forward Elena Riggenbach and Callen gave Wood River's defense some problems all game, but the shutout held up. With four minutes left, Hull-Mullins put a pass ahead to Tara Cappel, who rifled a shot on goal. The ball bounced away and Sweek (5 goals) finished.
Road games at Minico Thursday and at Jerome Saturday, Sept. 30, complete the regular season. The district tournament schedule will be announced next week.
Wood River senior Brianna Hull-Mullins #19 scored her ninth goal of the season Tuesday evening against the Jerome Tigers.
Photo by David N. Seelig
