The Boise United men's soccer team had never played in the championship game of the Ketchum Classic tournament but Boise changed that record in a big way last weekend during the 31st annual tourney played at Atkinson Park.
Despite losing a 2-1 game to Jackson Hole (Wyo.) Saturday, Boise United narrowly won its three-team pool and then had a triumphant Sunday—beating Idaho Falls 3-1 in the semi-final and Weber State (Ogden) 1-0 in a thrilling championship game.
Most Valuable Player was Boise United goalkeeper Brian Bentzinger, who blanked Weber State in the final. Bentzinger said, "We started out slow but the last game we put it together. It's awesome to finally win this tournament."
Kasper Van Wijk scored the eventual winning goal in the second half on a volley from Kevin Coyle. Boise United had to do everything in its power to beat Weber State keeper Jeff Rogers, who won two shootouts to get his team to the final and also conquered Boise Blast.
Rogers, who blanked four-time defending champion Boise Blast 1-0 in Saturday's pool play, survived a 1-1 shootout late Saturday in a fine match-up against John Gerdis' FC Seattle squad. Rogers lifted Weber State over Park City in Sunday's semi-final shootout after a 0-0 regulation game.
The Rogers shutout of Boise Blast snapped a 17-game Blast winning streak at the Ketchum tournament and knocked Boise out of championship consideration. The Blast had beaten FC Seattle 5-0 in its first game.
Praising his championship game counterpart Rogers, Boise United keeper Bentzinger said, "He really made this into a good game." So did Bentzinger and his mates, who had seven subs to none for Weber.
Two Wood River Valley teams competed in the two-day 12-team men's tourney sponsored by Lefty's Bar & Grill.
Competing in its sixth straight Ketchum tournament, the San Lorenzo squad dropped a 1-0 early-morning battle to Park City Saturday morning and then beat FK Velez of Boise 3-2 Saturday and Boise Blast 3-2 in a rematch of last year's Ketchum Classic title game.
Against Boise Blast, goals by Ciro Lima and Willy knotted the game 2-2 at the end of regulation, then San Lorenzo toppled the defending champs 4-1 in the shootout on goals by Oscar Hidalgo, Lima, Willy and Boise recruit Alex. Austrian keeper Richard did a good job.
San Lorenzo (2-1 last weekend) is now 5-2 in its last two Ketchum Classic tournaments after going 3-9 in its first four tourney trips to Atkinson Park.
The host Lefty's Bar & Grill team (1-2) won its first game 4-0 over Pocatello but fell from championship game contention with a hard-fought 3-1 loss to Idaho Falls later Saturday.
Lefty's built a 3-0 halftime lead over Pocatello on goals by Austin McCann (assist by Josh Stanek), John Campbell (Josh Sonneland) and Eric Hall (Scott Thompson. Campbell scored his second goal on a nice feed from Stanek eight minutes into the second half and goalkeeper Olin Glenne preserved the lead.
The pivotal afternoon game against Idaho Falls was a feisty, physical affair with yellow cards flashing at many junctures. Lefty's couldn't stop Idaho Falls striker Hector Palacios, who scored three goals including two penalties.
Idaho Falls keepers Marlon Cruz and Juan Rivera frustrated Lefty's throughout the game, allowing only a John Campbell header on an excellent centering pass from Shaun Kelly to put Lefty's on the scoreboard. Idaho Falls led 2-0 once and 2-1 at halftime.
With its 2-0 shutout of Pocatello later Saturday, Idaho Falls advanced into the semi-finals with 12 points (5 points for a win, 3 shootout win, 3 points for 3 or more goals, 1 point shutout). Lefty's had only 7 points and Pocatello none.
In one of Sunday's friendly games with nothing really at stake, Jackson Hole edged Lefty's 2-1 despite a goal by Eric Hall, who played very well all weekend for the home team.
Here are results of pool play:
Pool #1: Lefty's 4-0 over Pocatello; Idaho Falls 3-1 over Lefty's; and Idaho Falls 2-0 over Pocatello.
Pool #2: Park City 1-0 over San Lorenzo; San Lorenzo 3-2 over FK Velez of Boise; and Park City 4-4 with FK Velez, Park City winning a shootout.
Pool #3: Boise Blast 5-0 over FC Seattle (Gerdis); Weber State 1-0 over Boise Blast; and Weber State 1-1 with FC Seattle, Weber winning the shootout on the sixth shooter.
Pool #4: Boise United 3-0 over Logan (Utah); Logan 2-1 over Jackson Hole; and Jackson Hole 2-1 over Boise United. Final points: Boise United 7 (all coming against Logan), Jackson Hole 6 and Logan 5.
Semi-finals: Boise United 3-1 over Idaho Falls; and Weber State 0-0 with Park City, Weber State winning the shootout on the fifth shooter.
Championship game: Boise United 1-0 over Weber State.
Women's tournament
Led by the bulletproof goalkeeping of 19-year-old Alex Phillips, the Park City (Utah) women's soccer team won last weekend's four-team Laurent Perrier tournament title by a 1-0 score over Jackson Hole (Wyo.). It was the 26th annual LP women's meet in Ketchum.
A collegiate keeper at the University of Washington and two-time state champion for Park City High School, Phillips kept Park City unscored upon through the two-day tourney.
The Laurent Perrier women's team from Ketchum dropped its first two games 1-0 to Jackson Hole and 2-0 to Park City, and then won Sunday's friendly match 4-1 over the Boise Blast Rovers with keeper Lindsey Woodcock in the net.
Jenny Conrad tallied the first Laurent Perrier goal and Casey Mills made the second on a hard charge toward the net. The third goal was very pretty—a Kate Bentley corner kick that Margii Driscoll headed into the Boise net.
Heather Wark and Kipp Mills had a nice give-and-go on the forward line with Wark converting for the 4-1 final.
Laurent Perrier player Carmen Bradley gets a step and takes off down the Atkinson Park field last weekend. Photo by Willy Cook
