Friday was a good day for the Wood River High School boys' soccer team during the 2009 State 4A tournament at Brothers Park in Caldwell. The Wolverines stayed alive with a 3-2 victory over the Skyview Hawks of Nampa.
It turned out to be Wood River's high water mark of the three-day tournament—a tasty and well-deserved morsel sandwiched between Thursday's 4-1 loss to Hillcrest of Idaho Falls and Saturday's 3-2 setback to Jerome.
Wood River (14-5-3, 8-3-1 away), making its first state appearance since 2005 and the 18th state visit in school annals, ended up with a 1-2 state mark. Sandpoint (16-2-2) won its second straight 4A title and seventh overall 2-1 over Bonneville of Idaho Falls. Hillcrest finished third.
First-year Wolverine head coach Luis Monjaras acknowledged his team felt the pressure Thursday and didn't respond well in enduring Hailey's first-ever loss to Hillcrest (10-8-3) in eight meetings. "We didn't know what to expect. State isn't forgiving," said Monjaras.
Hillcrest junior Riley Salmon scored his first of two goals in the 26th minute for a 1-0 Hillcrest halftime lead. Hillcrest made it 2-0 in the 44th minute on a Mike Obray tap-in, then Obray's lead pass sent Salmon in alone for a 3-0 lead at 53 minutes.
Felipe Raygoza's cross pass to Luis "Freddy" Tamayo gave Wood River some hope at 3-1 in the 72nd minute, but Kuade Jorgensen finished the scoring at 4-1 just a minute later. Throughout, Hillcrest applied pressure and beat Wood River to the ball.
On Friday, Hailey's mindset was completely different against Skyview. Monjaras said, "We showed up to play and corrected our errors. Everybody did a great job of stepping up and covering for each other—and we got to the ball first most of the time."
Wood River out-shot Skyview 15-8 and got goals from Hector Lopez (assist to Bryan Donoso), Donoso on a follow-up of his penalty kick, and Morgan Pike from 20 yards out after a touch from Lopez. Wood River never trailed, leading 1-0 and 2-1 before Pike broke the 2-2 tie.
Goalkeeper Colter Brehmer, who had eight saves against Hillcrest, added seven more against Skyview (17-3-0), the six-time defending Boise-area champion still smarting from its 5-4 overtime loss to eventual champion Sandpoint Thursday.
In Saturday's consolation final, Great Basin Conference champion Jerome (21-2-0) rode the momentum of its 6-5 shootout win over Middleton Friday to an early 3-1 lead over Wood River. The Tigers out-shot the Wolverines 10-4 before half.
Gabriel Pulido scored a pair of Tiger goals and Jose Hernandez added a single. Lopez (Tamayo) and Tamayo tallied goals for Wood River. The second half was scoreless. So Jerome beat Wood River for the third time in four meetings this fall—and the 10th time in the last 12 games between the two.
Final team statistics: Wood River 14-5-3 (6-2-2 home, 8-3-1 away, 7-1-2 league for #2 seed) with 7 shutouts in 22 games. Goals scored: 58 (2.6). Goals against: 40 (1.8). Individual scoring: Hector Lopez 14, Bryan Donoso 11 (14 career), Morgan Pike 9 (20 career), Luis "Freddy" Tamayo 9, Charlie Evans 5, Ian Murphy 2, Felipe Raygoza 2, Trevor Brand 1, Spyder Turco 1, Daniel Vargas 1, Alejandro Garcia 1, Benito Reveles 1.
Wood River High School senior Luis “Freddy” Tamayo always seemed to be the most productive player on this year’s Wolverine state tournament team—making his touches count, kicking some great passes and scoring nine goals including two at last weekend’s State 4A tournament.
Photo by David N. Seelig
