The scoring numbers are impressive and one major goal has been reached—earning a berth in the state tournament for the 14th consecutive year.
Now the hard part begins for the Wood River High School girls' varsity soccer team.
Wood River (15-1-1) swept through the Great Basin Conference West tournament last week with 17-0 and 12-1 victories over overmatched Burley and Jerome to qualify for the State 4A tournament Oct. 23-25 at Brothers Park in Caldwell.
It was a record-setting week for the Wolverines, whose eight seniors have stepped up big time with plenty of help from a strong supporting cast led by sophomore striker Tanner Dredge (34 goals in 17 games).
The 17 goals scored in Thursday's victory over Burley at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey were a school single-game record over 278 games.
And, with 29 goals in two Great Basin tournament mismatches, top-ranked Wood River now has 116 goals in 17 games, breaking the single-season mark of 107 set by Wood River's undefeated state championship soccer team of 2000.
Goals will be much harder to come by starting Thursday, Oct. 16 when coach Greg Gvozdas' Wolverines play the biggest game of their season—the Great Basin Conference championship game against the undefeated Century Diamondbacks (12-0-3) from Pocatello.
Century, last year's State 4A third-place finisher after winning three state titles in 2003 and 2005-06, has outscored foes 48-4. The only Diamondback blemishes are 0-0 and 2-2 ties with Highland of Pocatello (11-1-4), and 0-0 with Pocatello.
But Century beat #3-ranked Hillcrest of Idaho Falls (12-2-1) by a 4-0 score Aug. 26, and Wood River tied the same Hillcrest squad 1-1 Sept. 30, and that 4A common opponent tiebreaker turned out to be the determining factor that gave Century the right to host Thursday's conference finale.
So Wood River will travel to Century Thursday at 4 p.m., hopeful of reversing the outcome of last October's conference title game won by Century 2-0 on the same Pocatello pitch.
Why is it important for Wood River to win Thursday, besides the fact that Hailey teams have lost three straight conference title games to Century by 2-0, 1-0 and 1-0 scores?
Besides bragging rights, it's all about getting a more favorable first round game for the eight-team State 4A tourney.
Thursday's winner will draw the Boise-area runner-up in the first game. And Thursday's loser will go against the Boise-area champion on the first day of state. The Third District champion won't be settled until Thursday, but the opponents in the final are likely to be Bishop Kelly (16-1-0) and Skyview of Nampa (14-4-0).
Neither Bishop Kelly nor Skyview is a bargain, but Bishop Kelly is the reigning state champ, having beaten Century 2-1 in the semi-finals and Skyview 2-0 in the final.
Wood River's remarkable season started with a 1-0 home win over Skyview Aug. 23. It's a season that includes 15 consecutive wins and nine shutouts. In eight Great Basin wins, Wood River outscored league foes 83-2. The Wolverines need three more wins to set a new school single-season mark.
So, for a team that has excelled in "finishing" its shots, Wood River needs to "finish" by winning three straight games and ending up where it wants to be—in the State 4A championship game Oct. 25.
Romp through the Basin
Wood River (116-10 goals against) captured its fifth straight Great Basin West tournament title last week with an unprecedented scoring display sparked by the speed and deadly aim of Dredge, who tallied eight goals in two games and now has 48 for her career.
It was no contest. Passing crisply and deftly avoiding defenders, Wolverines out-shot Burley 56-1 (8-0 in corner kicks) and Jerome 38-2 (9-1 corners). Seniors Aimee Evans (70 goals, 19 season) and Sam Johnson (50 goals, 10 season) reached career scoring milestones.
Nineteen different players have tallied goals—and 10 scored in Thursday's rout of Burley including junior midfielder Ashley Hesteness and senior Devan Annan, each scoring their first goals.
The score was 8-0 after the first 20 minutes of the Burley game, Dredge scoring all four of her goals in that span. Evans (1 assist) ended with three goals including a penalty. Freshman KT Martinez (3 assists) added three goals, her first hat trick of the campaign.
Hesteness blasted a ball from 29 yards at 38 minutes, giving Wood River a 12-0 lead. It was 13-0 at half. Annan took a little drop pass from Elsa Sweek for the final goal of the game at 72 minutes. Other Wood River goal scorers were Delaney Fox (1 assist), Megan Morrell (1 assist), Sweek, Ali Appleton and Johnson.
With Evans out of town on a college trip, freshman Morrell had more midfield responsibilities Saturday in the championship game against Jerome and she fulfilled them admirably. Morrell scored three goals in the first 20 minutes and ended up with four goals in all.
The Wolverines served up the ball accurately, seven players earning assists—Hesteness (2), Johnson (2), Morrell, Dredge, Bailey Ireland, Ellen Davis and Annan.
Morrell's first goal was a spot-on header off a Sam Johnson corner kick.
Jerome's Allison Bruckner slipped behind the Wood River defense and equalized at six minutes, but Bruckner had to don the keeper's shirt when Jerome's starting netminder was hit flush in the face by a Dredge rocket blast at 10 minutes. Morrell set up that shot, and then finished the goal with the keeper out.
Unfortunately Hesteness had to leave the game with a recurring back injury. She had played one of her best midfield games, passing the ball impeccably and sparking the offense.
Besides the four goals apiece by Dredge and Morrell, other Hailey scores in the 12-1 championship game victory were two goals by Sweek (11 goals season) along with singles by Johnson and Appleton.
