It was a solid start to the 2010 season for the highly regarded Wood River High School and Community School girls' varsity soccer squads.
Senior Tanner Dredge scored her 87th career goal in the eighth minute on a pass from junior Sloan Storey and Wood River held off the Skyview Hawks 1-0 Friday at South Valley Sports Complex.
The Community School (1-1-0), debuting with a 6-0 home loss to 4A Twin Falls Saturday, built from that first-game effort and traveled down to Filer Monday. There they beat the host Wildcats 4-2 in a High Desert Soccer Conference contest.
Friday's Skyview-Wood River non-conference game matched two State 4A tournament qualifiers from 2009. Host Skyview had defeated Wood River 2-0 in last year's debut.
Wood River finished 16-4-1 last fall, and Skyview (17-4-1) captured third place in the tournament. But the Hawks graduated top scorer Jenny Field (26 goals and 22 assists).
In Friday's game, Wood River out-shot Skyview 16-10 and put plenty of pressure on senior goalkeeper Caitlyn Johnson (9 saves). Dredge had five or six legitimate scoring chances, and Storey and Kaitana Martinez controlled the midfield for the Wolverines.
Junior back Lucy Paisley, senior stopper Taylor Hayes and junior sweeper Maddie Bates kept the ball away from senior keeper Madison Gove (6 saves). That was a big plus, since 2008 state runner-up Skyview (1-1-0) bounced back Monday to beat Emmett 12-0.
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Wood River coach Jenni Conrad said, "Skyview is one of our bigger rivals so it was a great way to start the season."
Saturday at Elkhorn, Twin Falls outshot the 3A Cutthroats 25-4 with six corner kicks and got four goals from sophomore Claire Goss plus a single by senior Erin Grubbs. Senior keeper Jessica Jenkins had the shutout for Twin Falls (1-0-0).
Playing the second half, soph keeper Taylor Figge (12 saves) did well in the TCS net and senior defender Emma Wilander was a force in back.
Monday, freshman Hannah Dies scored twice to go with singles by seniors Freya Dickey and Kelly Hennessy in the 4-2 Cutthroat league win at Filer.
Boys begin with shutouts
The Wood River and Community School boys' soccer teams opened their seasons with shutout losses—Wood River (0-1-0) by a 3-0 score to Skyview (1-1-0) Friday and the Cutthroats (0-1-0) by a 5-0 score at Filer on Monday evening.
Cutthroat "Man of the Match" was Cooper Hanley, and goalkeeper/co-captain Tom Crosby had 11 saves. Getting three goals from Santiago Alvarado, Filer out-shot the Cutthroats 21-7. In Friday's game at Nampa, Jose Sanchez tallied all three Skyview goals.
Community School senior defender Emma Wilander (right) clears a ball out of danger with a Twin Falls attacker threatening Saturday at Sagewillow Farms. Express photo by Roland Lane
