"I was proud of them," said Wood River High School boys' varsity soccer coach Matt Phillips after his team's 2-0 home triumph over Highland of Pocatello Tuesday in Hailey.
Junior striker Austin Cruz scored a goal in each half, both on outstanding individual efforts, as the Wolverines posted their first triumph of the season Tuesday on the South Valley Sports Complex pitch.
After a ragged start to the game and a disallowed Highland header goal by Nathan Rodrequez due to an offsides call, Wood River started stringing its passes together and speedy Cruz found a seam.
Cruz carried the ball from midfield and darted down the middle of Highland's defense. He outran three Rams with a burst of speed. Cruz took it to the hole and beat Rams senior goalkeeper Cam Lundberg midway through the first half.
The Wolverine defense, led by senior stopper David Dredge and junior sweeper Spyder Turco, was stingy in front of sure-handed junior goalkeeper Colter Brehmer, who made several saves at key moments.
Another defender, senior Spencer Fullmer, saved the day when he kicked the ball out of trouble in the box to stop Highland's best threat nine minutes into the second half, with Wood River clinging to a 1-0 lead.
Phillips said, "We work diligently on defense in practice and that combination (Dredge, Turco, Fullmer and Cody Phelps on the back line) looked real strong together."
Cruz gave Wood River an insurance goal with another individual attack through the middle of the Rams' defense, with four minutes left. Phillips said, "Austin is becoming more confident and comfortable and is keeping the ball closer to his body. It takes time to learn it."
He added, "In the second half we played nice, easy passing soccer and got to a point where we were stringing six, seven, eight passes together. The kids were looking for each other and looking for the right places. Our spacing was good."
Thursday afternoon, Wood River (1-1-0, 0-0-0 league) traveled to meet a 5A Twin Falls squad (0-2-0) that had dropped 6-2 and 3-0 decisions to Jerome and Minico to begin the season.
But Hailey has always struggled with Twin Falls in the 39-game series. Twin Falls held a 21-12-6 edge and Wood River, winless in the last three meetings, hadn't won since 2003 before Thursday's clash.
Wood River begins its Great Basin West schedule Wednesday, Sept. 3 against Minico at Rupert. Minico (1-1-1) tied Highland 1-1, beat Twin Falls 3-0 and lost to American Falls 3-0.
Girls fall 1-0 at Highland
They dominated but lost 1-0 on a second-half goal, which was perhaps the only decent threat Highland had all game.
Coach Greg Gvozdas' Wood River girls (1-1-0) dropped a 1-0 non-conference road game Tuesday afternoon in Pocatello to a State 5A qualifier from 2007, the Highland Rams.
It was the second of a tough three-game non-league stretch.
Thursday, Wood River resumed its series with its oldest girls' rival, 5A Twin Falls. It was the first meeting since 2006 between the two teams. Smoke in the Wood River Valley forced Thursday's game site to move from Hailey to Twin.
Unbeaten Twin Falls (2-0-0) started its season with a 9-0 home win over Jerome last Saturday and trounced Minico of Rupert 6-1 on Tuesday.
Wood River opens its Great Basin West slate Wednesday, Sept. 3 with a 4:30 p.m. home game against Minico (0-2-1) at South Valley Sports Complex.
Wood River junior Austin Cruz (left) sprints through the Highland defense and scores the first goal in Tuesday’s 2-0 Wolverine home victory over the 5A Rams from Pocatello. Cruz added an insurance goal in the second half. Trying in vain to catch up with Cruz is Highland senior defender Greg Tyler. Photo by David N. Seelig
