Defense wins soccer games on the road, which the Wood River High School boys' varsity has demonstrated in winning all three of its road games so far in 2009. But Wood River put a new twist on that theme Wednesday in Twin Falls.
Summoned by coach Luis Monjaras to the forward position in order to fire up a dormant attack, Wolverine junior sweeper Spyder Turco scored the game-winning goal with two minutes left in Wood River's 2-1 Great Basin Conference win over Canyon Ridge.
Turco's first-ever varsity goal came on an 18-yard blast after he received the ball on a header from junior Alejandro Garcia. Senior captain Morgan Pike gave Wood River a 1-0 lead at 15:30 of the first half on a pass from Luis "Freddy" Tamayo.
Canyon Ridge (1-6-3, 0-2-2) equalized 10 minutes into the second half but the Wolverine defense of Turco, Harlan Collins, Zack Freeman and Trevor Brand kept the Riverhawks off the board thereafter.
Senior keeper Colter Brehmer (4 saves) wasn't severely tested as Wood River had a 16-8 shooting edge. But the offense couldn't finish until Monjaras elected to switch up things and bring Turco up to the forward line. The strategy worked and earned Hailey three big points in league play.
"We were a little overconfident and slow in the first half. But we kept pushing and pushing," said Monjaras. "It's good because when we're not doing anything up front, our defense has been very, very productive."
Unbeaten in its last five, Wood River (5-1-2, 3-1-1 league) improved to 10 points. Meanwhile, Burley (5-2-2, 2-2-1) lost 4-1 to Jerome Wednesday and dropped to third place in the six-team league with seven points. Two-time defending league champion Jerome (9-0-0, 5-0-0) appears uncatchable for the league title with 15 points.
Wood River visits Jerome Monday, Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m.
