Wood River and Highland of Pocatello, a couple of young boys' soccer teams, clashed Friday afternoon in Hailey in the opening game of the 2007 prep season with the host Wolverines coming out on top 3-1.
Senior Ross Parsons (penalty kick) and freshman Bruce Lopez (assisted by Parsons) gave Wood River a 2-0 halftime lead that junior Zach Bjorkman stretched to 3-0 at the 64-minute mark of the 80-minute game.
First-year Wood River head coach Matt Phillips said, "I was proud of the kids. It was a good start to the season. Highland was a young team, but how we played gives us an idea of where we can be."
Wood River "executed nicely the first 20 minutes," Phillips said, and dominated most of the attack. The Wolverines cranked out 18 shots to Highland's five, and had six corner kicks to just two for the Rams.
The first goal came after Highland's Ryan Garcia tripped Wood River freshman midfielder Chris DeLaCruz inside the box and Parsons punched the subsequent penalty into the top right corner at 14 minutes for a 1-0 lead.
Playing against the wind in the first half, Wood River nevertheless applied considerable pressure and made its own break at 40 minutes. Parsons served a ball behind the Rams defense and Lopez went in alone for his first varsity goal.
Said Phillips, "We had moments when we played at a state level but we also played a lot of kick ball that I'd like to get away from. It wore us out. My focus is ball movement—quickly controlling and releasing. I think it will take us an entire season to get where we want to be."
In the second half a Morgan Pike direct kick aimed in the general direction of senior striker Erwin Roman ended up on the foot of Bjorkman, who made no mistake for a 3-0 lead at 65 minutes. Highland's Rene Barraza got the Rams on the board at 66 minutes.
Highland's goalkeeper Cam Lundberg (14 saves) was a busy man while Wood River keeper Colter Brehmer (6 saves) had an easier day. Brehmer played all 80 minutes last weekend.
The Wood River defense featuring Latner Straley, Cody Phelps, Kyler VanDyck and Spencer Fullmer did well stopping the Highland attack. Straley helped his keeper by heading a dangerous ball out of the box, to safety, with the game still at 2-0 in the second half.
Highland (0-2) played again Saturday, losing 1-0 to the Minico Spartans at Rupert.
Two losses to tough teams
Wood River followed its winning effort against Highland with a pair of losses to two of the best 4A teams in Idaho—Skyview and Burley.
On Saturday in Nampa, host Skyview (1-0) took care of Wood River by a 6-0 score behind two goals apiece by senior co-captains Jose Oregon and Alex Mangeac and the shutout goalkeeping of Kody Hundersmarck, now a junior. Skyview, the State 4 champion in 2005, outshot Wood River 21-7.
Phillips said, "Skyview was technical and tactically a better team."
On Monday, the host Burley Bobcats added another win to its Saturday home-opening 6-2 victory over Pocatello. This time Burley (2-0) beat visiting Wood River 5-2 with senior Carlos Gil scoring four goals.
State third-place finisher Burley, winner of 20 of 21 games last fall, led 2-0 and 3-1 at half. Lopez scored Wood River's first goal, assisted by Parsons, and Parsons scored unassisted after half against the four-time defending Great Basin Conference champs.
"Burley has good players and is a good team, technically better than we are at this point," said Phillips. "When we shined, we used our fitness and tenacity to get the ball but we couldn't maintain it.
"It boils down to fitness, some basic skills and tactics. I'm happy for the opportunity to be tested like this. It teaches us a lot in the early going."
Wood River (1-2) hosts the Hillcrest Knights from Idaho Falls Saturday, Aug. 25 at 11 a.m. at South Valley Sports Complex soccer field in Hailey and visits Highland in Pocatello at 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Meanwhile, the Hailey junior varsity split two games last weekend. Wood River defeated Highland 4-2 Friday (goals by Nic Turco, Ian Murphy, Brayan Donoso and Brendan Freund plus assists to Crockett Stearns 2, Chance McCroskey and Alex MacMillan) and lost 4-2 at Skyview Saturday (goals by Donoso and Felipe Raygoza, assists to Greg Roos, Donoso).
On Monday Burley's JV nipped Wood River 2-1 despite a Hailey goal by Raygoza.
