In a rematch of last October's State 4A soccer tournament thriller won by the Wood River High School girls in a 1-0 shootout, the Wolverines and longtime foe Century fought to a 1-1 tie Tuesday in Pocatello.
Wood River (5-2-1, 4-1-0 league) got a goal from sophomore back Maggie Williams in the 52nd minute, then Century (6-1-1) equalized on a free kick rebound by defender Jerika Johnson in the 68th minute.
Coach Jenni Conrad of Wood River felt her team rebounded well from its tough 3-1 Great Basin Conference league loss to Twin Falls (7-1-0, 4-0-0) on Sept. 9. "The girls were determined and played hard until the last whistle of the game," she said.
Williams (2 goals) isn't one of Wood River's major scorers, but she came up big Thursday against a team that has given the Wolverines tons of trouble in 18 meetings since 2002. Century owns a 6-10-2 advantage.
Conrad said, "Maggie hit an absolutely gorgeous shot from 35 yards out and put it in the top right hand corner of the goal. It was a very physical game. We definitely wanted to come away with either a win or tie and we did that."
Before Thursday, Century had won six consecutive games dating from a season opening 1-0 loss to Twin Falls Aug. 24.
The Wolverines hosted Jerome Thursday, then visit Canyon Ridge Sept. 21 and Burley Sept. 23 before their home rematch with Twin Falls Tuesday, Sept. 28 in Hailey. "We will be prepared to play Twin," said Conrad about that rematch.
