No boys' soccer team in the Great Basin Conference West needed a victory more than Wood River High School—and the Wolverines went out and grabbed their first league win 2-1 over Minico Monday on the Hailey soccer pitch.
Senior Erwin Roman equalized 1-1 at the 24-minute mark for his first goal of the season, then sophomore Danny Sundali tallied his first varsity goal and the eventual game winner at 30 minutes on a marvelous header off an equally fine corner kick by freshman Chris DeLaCruz.
The second half was scoreless thanks to the Wood River defense led by Kyler VanDyck, David Dredge, Spencer Fullmer and Cody Phelps and the goalkeeping of sophomore Hector Lopez (10 saves in the second half, 11 for the game).
"It was a huge win for us and I'm real proud of the boys," said first-year Wood River coach Matt Phillips. "We had a little letdown in the second half but we regained our composure and held them off. It was a good test for our defense."
By winning for the first time in six games since a 2-0 home win over Hillcrest of Idaho Falls Aug. 25, Wood River also made the Great Basin pennant race a real free-for-all.
Wood River (3-4-2, 1-2-1 league) still has a chance for second place in the league and a first-round tournament home game if the Wolverines win at Jerome Sept. 24 and against Minico in Rupert Sept. 29. Wood River and Jerome tied 1-1 Sept. 5.
Minico (8-5-2, 1-3-0 league) has beaten Jerome 2-0 and has lost to the Tigers 6-1. Minico visits Burley Sept. 26 before hosting Wood River in the season finale Sept. 29. Burley just nipped Minico 2-1 at Rupert.
Jerome (8-3-2, 1-2-1) must play league-leading Burley (11-0-0, 4-0-0) today, Wednesday at home before ending with the home game against Wood River Monday. Burley narrowly beat Jerome 3-2 in the first meeting of the Great Basin West teams.
None of the challengers, of course, wants to finish fourth in the league. The fourth-place team earns the dubious honor of visiting four-time defending Great Basin West king Burley in the first round of the league tournament starting Oct. 4.
Coach Phillips was pleased that his team came out and controlled the tempo of Monday's game with two-touch passing. In fact the Wolverines staged a passing clinic in the first half, out-shot Minico 8-2 and had a decisive 5-0 edge in corner kicks.
The pressure in the offensive end was all Wood River, but Minico scored first on a penalty kick by Raul Navarrete at 18 minutes. The Wolverines answered when Bruce Lopez's strong left-footed bid was juggled by Minico keeper Alejandro Olmos (11 saves). Roman followed the play for a timely conversion.
Sundali headed home DeLaCruz's terrific corner kick at 30 minutes for a 2-1 Wood River lead. The shots picked up in the second half, eight for each team and good chances at that, but Lopez was very strong. He stopped Navarrete in close at four minutes, moments after Minico's Armando Tapia drilled a midfield direct kick off the crossbar, no good.
Sundali and junior Austin Moses unleashed several strong drives from the wing and from the center of the field as Wood River was much more aggressive getting off its shots. And DeLaCruz controlled the midfield.
Wood River's next action is against 3A rival The Community School Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. on the Hailey pitch. The Cutthroats are unbeaten and currently ranked first among Idaho 3A schools.
In games against the Cutthroats, Wolverine teams lead the 23-season, 53-game rivalry 31-19-3 including an 18-4-2 mark in Hailey. But the Cutthroats won 5-1 last fall in Sun Valley and still have a 110-107 goal-scoring advantage in the series.
Hailey's boys' junior varsity improved to 4-3-1 with wins over Pocatello 4-1 and Burley 3-2 last week.
Scoring against Pocatello were Brendan Freund, Ian Murphy, Brayan Donoso and Alejandro Garcia. Wolverine assists went to Donoso, Alexander MacMillan, Crockett Stearns and Jake Freeman.
Donoso scored a pair as Wood River handed Burley's JV its first loss Wednesday. Garcia added a single goal. Murphy, Freund and Charlie Evans contributed assists.
