Knowing his players and their abilities, coach Greg Gvozdas made an astute pre-season assessment of the 2007 Wood River High School girls' soccer team when he said back in August, "We've always been blessed with speed. We use it to pressure an opponent."
Speed, desire and an unruffled defense were Wood River's main weapons that pressured three opponents last weekend during the State 4A soccer tournament played in cold and windy conditions at Bannock County Fairgrounds, Pocatello.
And it didn't hurt that Wood River was one of the best conditioned teams in the eight-team tournament won by Bishop Kelly of Boise (20-2-0) over District 3 rival Skyview of Nampa (17-4-1) by a 2-0 score Saturday.
Third place went to two-time defending champion Century of Pocatello (15-3-1) by a 2-0 score over Hillcrest (16-3-1) Saturday.
The Wolverines (12-5-1) ran extremely hard for 240 minutes and brought home the fourth-place consolation trophy with 1-0 and 4-0 victories over Moscow and Pocatello—two teams that had bedeviled Wood River with costly wins at the 2004 and 2005 state tourneys in Boise.
Only a 2-1 loss to top-ranked Hillcrest of Idaho Falls in Thursday's state opener stood between a youthful Wood River team (only three seniors) and a place among Idaho's best 4A girls' soccer teams for 2007. And Wood River completely outplayed Hillcrest in the second half of that tight game.
The coaching staff of Gvozdas, Aaron Thompson and Doug Stouffer felt the girls played their best soccer of the season in the climactic event.
Senior co-captain Michelle McMurdo, leader of Wood River's exemplary defense, said, "We played hard. The first game (Hillcrest) we deserved to win but were unlucky. We stepped up to pull out the game against Moscow in the last seven minutes. We knew what we had to do against Pocatello and went out and did it."
McMurdo, called upon by coach Gvozdas during the course of the season to show her leadership and conduct the pre-game talks among players, added, "It was a great ending to the season and to a career."
Junior midfielder Sam Johnson, a whirling dervish type of relentless player, inspires much of Wood River's energy on the field and played that role capably at Pocatello. She said, "We were really focused, played with a lot of heart and all got really pumped up. Our team felt like a family."
Out-shooting northern Idaho champ Moscow 12-4 and dominating Pocatello 18-3, Wood River just beat its foes to the ball and owned the 50-50s. Ball possession was Johnson's personal goal. She said, "I told myself that every ball I wanted to get, I would get." Her teammates followed her example.
They could take chances up front because defense was rock solid. Gvozdas said about his back three of senior McMurdo and juniors Laura Elgee and Bailey Ireland, "I can't say enough about those three. They were our bedrock back there."
He was also proud that the Wolverines picked up their energy as a full team and showed fitness and heart. Two midfielders, juniors Makayla Cappel and Jasmine Campbell, did the two-way never-stop-running thing of serving up passes and also marking back quickly to stop counter-attacks.
Hillcrest, with eight seniors, was expected to beat Wood River, but the Knights led only 1-0 at half Thursday on an early Sarah Milgate goal from Shae Goff at eight minutes. But from the opening kickoff of the second half, hard-running Wood River knocked on the door.
Wood River finally scored when junior Delaney Fox redirected an Aimee Evans corner kick into the Knights goal at 54 minutes—after a fine save at the other end by freshman goalkeeper Madison Gove (8 saves). Unfortunately the score stayed 1-1 when Johnson was taken down and Evans ripped the penalty kick off the post.
At 67 minutes Gove couldn't completely grasp one of the rare Hillcrest second-half shot attempts and Knights senior Angela Corry tapped home the loose ball for the 2-1 final score. "We got an unlucky bounce," said Gvozdas afterwards. "But the girls ran hard the entire game and really wanted it."
They showed similar desire in Friday's gusty winds, beating Moscow 1-0 on Elsa Sweek's header goal at 73 minutes on a ball served nicely into the box by Evans. The Wolverine pressure was deep in the zone and persistent all through the second half—8-1 ahead in shots and 4-0 in corners. Evans and Johnson each hit a crossbar.
"We had so many opportunities, it seemed like it was going to happen sometime," said Sweek. Coach Gvozdas felt that the halftime scoreless tie favored Wood River, which had a more favorable wind in the second half. He said, "We kept pushing and working hard to get a break to go our way."
Moscow had beaten Wood River 2-1 in the 2004 State 4A opener, when the Wolverines captured their only other state consolation title. And Pocatello had kept Wood River from the third-place state trophy with a 5-4 victory in 2005, despite an incredible Hailey comeback.
So Wood River had something to prove against Pocatello Saturday—and the Wolverines did it with style. They outshot Pokey 10-2 in the first half and scored first on freshman Tanner Dredge's finish off of Johnson's tester. It was 1-0 at half.
Dredge, whose 14 goals in her first season put the freshman finisher behind only Kristi Toussaint (21) and Johnson (15) in school freshman scoring annals, made it 2-0 at 51 minutes on a play started by Ireland along the left wing.
Long and powerful, Evans outran the tiring Pocatello defense and Johnson one-timed the loose ball for a 3-0 lead at 56 minutes. Evans (22 goals) made it 4-0 with a long left-footer after Delaney Fox intercepted a goal kick. Wood River senior goalkeeper Alisa Durkheimer came in for the final 10 minutes and shut down a Pokey breakway threat—the only Indian shot of the half—at 79 minutes.
Next year will be Wood River's 16th with a girls' soccer team, and the program (187-51-23) will be going for its 200th victory and perhaps a higher finish in the state tournament.
Record: 12-5-1; 72 goals for, 22 against (9 shutouts). Individual scoring: Aimee Evans 22 (51 career), Tanner Dredge 14, Sam Johnson 10, Delaney Fox 4, Laura Elgee 3, Makayla Cappel 3, Taylor Hayes 3, Elsa Sweek 3, Madison Gove 2, Hannah Fuller 2, Ivory Dilley 1, Michelle McMurdo 1, Jazz Campbell 1, Ashley Hesteness 1 and 2 own goals.
Three-year Wolverine varsity defender Michelle McMurdo proudly clutches the State 4A consolation trophy Saturday at Bannock County Fairgrounds soccer fields in Pocatello.
