Girls' soccer teams from Hailey's Wood River High School and Twin Falls High School battled Thursday at Sunway Soccer Complex in Twin Falls for early-season bragging rights in the Great Basin Conference.
Observers beforehand considered the game a toss-up, the two Great Basin powers entering the fray with identical overall records and similar drubbings of league foes Tuesday. Wood River handled Burley 11-0 and Twin Falls beat Jerome 10-0.
Wood River (5-1-0, 4-0-0 league) is the six-time defending Great Basin Conference champion with five shutouts in six games. Twin Falls (5-1-0, 2-0-0) had been dominant in nearly all its games.
Coach Jenni Conrad's Wolverines (39-3 goals-against) showed their artillery in Tuesday's 11-0 rout at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey. So far, five players have five goals or more—Tanner Dredge (8), Jessica Martens (6), McKenna Chase (6), K.T. Martinez (5) and Sloan Storey (5).
Midfielders Martinez and Storey sat out Tuesday nursing slight injuries but their team didn't suffer. Not with Martens scoring her first-ever varsity hat trick and striker Dredge adding four goals, raising her career total to 94.
Other Hailey scorers were Taylor Hayes (2), Erin Murphy and Chase. Those with assists were Chase (2), Murphy (2), Haley Montgomery (2), Dredge and Ellen Davis.
Wood River out-shot Burley 33-2. Burley keeper Emily Sansom made 10 saves in the first half alone, as Hailey led 6-0.
Dredge took a pass from Chase and went in alone just 46 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead. A build-up from Lucy Paisley to Chase ended up on Dredge's dangerous foot, and she blasted one home off the crossbar at 11:12. Martens launched a 19-yard strike at 18:30 for a 3-0 cushion.
< Scoring her first two goals of the season was senior stopper Hayes, the first from Dredge on an indirect kick at 23:50. The second was a lovely bullet from 26 yards after a drop pass from freshman Montgomery. Paisley originated the sixth goal, up to Davis and over to Dredge, on the ground.
Martens tallied two goals in the first 16 minutes of the second half, both from Murphy, then Dredge, Murphy (Montgomery) and Chase completed the scoring. Wood River bettered its series advantage to 28-0 over Burley since 1996, 22 shutouts.
Wood River players Teagen Palmer, Nicole Roos and Halsey Pierce, on the bench Tuesday, were due to be activated for Thursday's game at Twin.
WRHS, Burley boys 1-1 tie
Leading the highly competitive Great Basin Conference standings in the early going, the Wood River High boys' varsity soccer team picked up an important point Tuesday with a 1-1 league tie at Burley.
A goal by senior Charlie Evans (4 goals) in the 16th minute held up until stoppage time. Burley's Alex Greener equalized with a header in the 82nd minute of what Wood River coach Luis Monjaras called "a pretty even game."
"It's always tough playing away on Burley's fast pitch because Burley's players are more comfortable playing on it," said Monjaras. "Up until now, we haven't had much success on the road so we feel comfortable leaving Burley with a 1-1 tie."
Evans found the net on a perfect header after a long throw-in by Harlan Collins from the corner.
Wood River (3-2-1, 2-1-1 league) improved its league-high total to seven points—six for its two league wins and one for the tie. Burley (3-1-2, 0-0-2) has two and hosted Canyon Ridge (1-3-0, 0-1-0) Thursday.
Defending league champion Jerome (3-1-1, 1-1-1) earned its first conference win Tuesday 5-2 at Twin Falls (2-2-1, 1-1-0). Wood River hosted Twin Falls Thursday and Minico (5-1-0, 1-1-0) went to Jerome.
