It was a nice start at Filer Tuesday for The Community School girls' and boys' varsity soccer teams. The visiting Cutthroats captured 6-0 victories in both the girls' and boys' contests on the Wildcat pitch.
Cutthroat girls' coach Kelly Feldman said, "We were a little rusty but I felt pretty good about the game. Filer is a new team this year. They had some speed and were pretty solid on defense."
Richard Whitelaw, coach of the Cutthroat boys' varsity, said, "Our conditioning wasn't quite there for the first game and Filer was a lot better than they've been in the past."
The Cutthroat teams played at Gooding Thursday, Aug. 30, and travel to Declo for additional High Desert Soccer Conference games today. Gooding's girls (2-0-1) were unbeaten entering the game and the Senator boys were 2-1-0.
Whether next Tuesday's girls' and boys' home games against Wendell can be played at Elkhorn is still in question because of the Castle Rock fire in the Sun Valley area.
Girls' game
Senior Cody Curran had a productive start for the Cutthroat girls with three goals against Filer and climbed on the school's all-time scoring chart. Curran (27 goals, 4 seasons) is on track to surpass Cassidy Doucette (41) for second place behind Langely McNeal (51).
Feldman said that sophomore Erica Eshman had a great game in the defensive midfield position and "Ricky" scored the first goal with the game two-and-a-half minutes old. Jessie Curran then converted a Kelly Hennessy corner kick for a 2-0 lead.
Back-to-back goals by Cody Curran and the first-ever varsity goal by sophomore Madison Murach made it 5-0 at halftime. Cody Curran got her hat trick in the second half.
Posting the shutout for Sun Valley (1-0-0, 1-0-0 league) was sophomore goalkeeper Maddie-Kate Currie.
"And Mattie Griswold had a great game on defense in her first varsity game," Feldman said.
Boys' game
In the boys' game the Cutthroats (1-0-0, 1-0-0 league) dominated in the shooting department and built a 4-0 lead at the half.
"Man of the Match" Mac Whittington, the senior stopper, scored the first goal on a corner kick from Tanner Flanigan.
"Mac has really come into his own," said Whitelaw.
Senior Travis Stone nailed the second goal, his 60th Cutthroat goal in 51 starts over four years. Sophomore midfielder Wyatt Bunce is now only 59 behind Stone after scoring his first varsity goal to give the Cutthroats a 3-0 lead. He was assisted by sophomore Flanigan, who scored one himself to make it 4-0 before the half.
Flanigan added his second goal and junior Lucas Vorsteveld finished the scoring for Sun Valley in the 85-degree heat at Filer. Junior keepers Riley Berman (first half) and Eugene Zak (second) shared the shutout.
Senior center midfielder Connor Brown made his 50th varsity start for the Fish against Filer (1-1-0).
Whitelaw announced that the 2007 captains, voted upon by the players, are Stone, Brown and senior Max Harris. The coach said, "It's the first time we've had tri-captains for a long time. They'll do a good job."
Community School senior Travis Stone nailed his 60th career Cutthroat goal in Filer Tuesday against the Wildcats. Stone, one of the team captains this season, is shown here last year moving the ball past a Wendell defender. Photo by David N. Seelig
