The 26-member Sawtooth United Premier girls' soccer traveling contingent got off to a great start on their 11-day European trip Friday with a 4-1 victory over a women's team from Moosberg-Am Bahnhof, Germany in a friendly match.
Premier team manager Laura Gvozdas said in an e-mail, "The girls were a bit nervous because it was a women's team and all players were in their 20s and bigger than we are. But all our training this summer paid off. We were in better shape and ran them into the ground."
Emma Wilander scored the first goal, off a great pass from Tanner Dredge. Aimee Evans had a beautiful free kick to put the Idaho girls ahead 2-0 at the half. Mossberg tallied its only goal early in the second half, but Evans countered with the third U.S. goal and Ashley Hesteness made it 4-1, off a great feed from Nellie Brown.
Afterwards, a happy Sawtooth Premier contingent had dinner at a Greek restaurant where the owner enticed the Community School and Wood River High School soccer players to do a traditional Greek dance for the patrons.
This week's final leg of the trip is in Cesenatico, a seaport town on the Adriatic coast of Italy. There, Sawtooth United Premier is competing in The Italy Cup, the largest youth soccer tournament in Italy.
Sawtooth United Premier played three games Tuesday, against teams from Ireland and Sweden. The Idaho team has two games today, Wednesday, and one more preliminary game Thursday. Final matches will be played Friday, July 4. On Saturday, Sawtooth United Premier will leave by bus for Venice and fly home to Idaho.
The tournament Web site for updates is italycup.com.
