First-year Wood River High School boys' soccer coach Luis Monjaras was hoping his highly regarded 2009 squad would bounce back from a 3-0 Great Basin Conference tournament home loss to Burley on Saturday and restore its luster.
That luster included a 12-game unbeaten streak that carried resurgent Wood River (11-2-3) to the second seed of the six-team GBC double elimination tournament. But Burley's stingy defense and opportunistic attack put an end to the streak on the Hailey pitch.
Burley coach Wes Nyblade said, "That was playoff ball. A tough, physical game—really anybody's game until we scored the second goal."
Wood River out-shot Burley 20-10 but the Bobcat counterattacks led by co-captain Woody Anguiano made good on their attempts. Monjaras said, "Burley played defensively. Their game is kick ball, but they also finished their opportunities."
Anguiano set up the first Burley goal at 26 minutes with a lovely cross pass from the left flank that Saul Esquivel headed home. It was still 1-0 and Wood River applying tons of second-half pressure when Gustavo Castaneda's corner kick found Cesar Mendoza, who scored at 69 minutes on a bicycle kick.
Burley's Logan Searle finished the scoring three minutes later on a loose ball winner. Leading the Bobcat defense that has allowed an average of one goal per game were co-captain Brent Lee, George Contreras, Karch Hinckley and Alex Magana. Keeper Taylor Whitehead (13 saves) was solid.
Wood River, without a state tournament berth for three straight years, tried to stay alive Tuesday with a home game against #5-seeded Canyon Ridge of Twin Falls (5-10-4) on the Hailey field. Canyon Ridge eliminated #4-seeded Twin Falls (6-11-4) by 2-0 Monday.
The Wolverines entered Tuesday's loser-out game with 2-1 and 6-2 wins over Canyon Ridge. Tuesday's winner advances to play Burley (9-5-4) today, Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in Burley for the second State 4A tournament berth from the Great Basin and a ticket to Jerome for Thursday's 4:30 p.m. GBC championship game.
Two-time defending GBC king Jerome (18-1-0) whipped Burley 5-0 Monday to claim the first state berth from the Basin.
Wood River High School senior co-captain Morgan Pike (right) finds tough going against Burley defender Alex Magana (#14) and Angel Anguiano (far left). Action took place during Saturday’s Great Basin Conference tournament game won by Burley 3-0 in Hailey.
