Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Cutthroats rack up 8-0 win over Minico

Sun Valley girls (5-0) stay hot


By JODY ZARKOS
Express Staff Writer

Community School senior striker Hannah Hennessy has been on a scoring tear, scoring one of her four goals here against the Minico Spartans Saturday on the Sagewillow Farms pitch. Photo by Willy Cook

Judging by their play on Saturday, the most pressing concern for The Community School girls' soccer team is injecting a little oomph into their pre-match cheer.

An anemic "Whose house? Our house. What time is it? Game time," in no way set the table for a crisp offensive performance in which the 3A Cutthroats dominated 4A Minico of Rupert 8-0 on the Sagewillow Farms pitch.

Senior Hannah Hennessy (4 goals, 11 season, 23 career) led the scoring and senior Cody Curran (9 goals, 33 career) added a pair of scores.

"We were hoping for a little more challenging game," Sun Valley coach Kelly Feldman said. "But they were the best team we have played so far. We had to work for it."

By "work for it" Feldman meant the opposing team actually got it past the 50-yard-line a few times, which has been as rare this season. In five games thus far, the Cutthroats have outscored their opponents 36-1, but Saturday's goals, while dealt out in great quantity, were quality as well.

One minute into the match, halfback Cody Curran buried a left-footed shot from the top of the box. Two minutes later, midfielder Jessie Curran (7 goals) fed left wing Emma Wilander who found Hennessy in the middle. Hennessy's strike found the upper right corner for a 2-0 lead.

Jessie Curran also had an assist on Ricky Eshman's long-distance shot from the 25-yard line. Eshman threaded the left-footed boot shortside for a 3-0 Cutthroat advantage.

Bolstered by some standout play in the middle of the field by Eshman and the Currans, with ample backup by defenders Marin Shepardson and Emily Eshman, the Cutthroats cracked 14 shots to Minico's two in the opening stanza. Spartan freshman goalkeeper Melinda Martinez (10 saves) did an admirable job in the face of a constant barrage, including a deflection off the crossbar on a point-blank bullet by Hennessy.

The work Hennessy has done in the off-season was readily apparent. She has morphed into a threat from any distance and has power and accuracy with both feet. She picked up the final goal of the first half on a left-footed slam in the upper right corner that even a superb keeper would have a hard time stopping.

It was a nice turnaround as Minico picked up momentum in the latter part of the first half. Keeper Kathryn Farmer (6 saves) made a key save stopping a hard shot and diving on the rebound with a Spartan forward bearing down on her.

"We let down in the middle of the half. We went from 100% effort to about 30%," Feldman said. "In the second half we played more consistently."

Cody Curran jump-started the second 40 minutes the same way she started the first with a goal right after the kickoff.

Freshman forward Nellie Brown chased down a ball in the corner, making a sweet cross to Hennessy in the box. Hennessy showed nice patience and dexterity drawing the goalie with the ball on her right foot, crossing it to her left and nailing the upper corner.

Cody Curran served the ball up to sister Jessie, who buried the worm burner for the seventh goal.

A funny exchange took place between Cody and referee Steve Kearns who did not know there were two Currans on the field and thought Cody was just one player "who was just all over the place." The Spartans may have felt the same way.

The fourth and final goal by Hennessy closed out scoring at the 28-minute mark.

"On the whole I am pleased with how the girls played," Feldman said. "I am glad we could score with the extra pressure and we were solid defensively. We did some good things."

The Cutthroats, having played Buhl Tuesday, have a busy week on the home pitch with Gooding Thursday, Bliss Friday and Jerome on Monday.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.