Blast is bulletproof in Ketchum Classic soccer
Second straight title, sixth overall
Chatham Baker of Lefty?s scored two goals in Sunday?s ?friendly,? match against Jackson Hole. His teammate Jason Southward is shown, behind Baker. Express photo by Chris Pilaro
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By JAMES CORDES
Express Staff Correspondent
If Boise Blast hadn?t scored a goal all weekend at the 28th annual 12-team Lefty?s Invitation Soccer Classic in Ketchum, the Blast still wouldn?t have lost a game in the men?s meet.
That?s the type of security four shutouts in four games will give a team?s offense.
The defending champs from Boise proved their worth as they stuck it to strong opponent Logan (Utah) in the championship game, winning 3-0 and preserving their four-game weekend shutout streak.
Co-MVP?s Jake Steele and Jon Gabrielleson shared the duty in Blast net.
The championship gave Boise a record six Ketchum Classic tourna-ment titles, pushing ahead of Weber State University?s four crowns.
Boise won 2-1 in last year?s championship game over Weber State and now owns an 8-0 record in the past two years at the Ketchum Classic tourney, outscoring opponents 20-5.
By winning the first three games of the tournament by a score of 1-0 in each contest, Boise showed that its defense was an effective weapon.
It wasn?t until the final game that Boise got rolling offensively against Logan.
The Blast, awarded a penalty kick in the 19th minute of the second half, went up 1-0. By the end of the game, Mike Darrow and Ryan Oaks added goals to seal the victory.
Logan, primarily made up of Utah State soccer players, had a strong tournament, going 3-1.
Sunday morning?s semifinal victories for the Boise Blast and Logan advanced both teams to the final game. The Blast took down Park City 1-0 and Logan advanced over surprise contender Valle Magico out of Twin Falls.
For the two local teams, success was just out of reach. Lefty?s and San Lorenzo of Hailey each went 0-3 over two days.
Lefty?s lost a close first game 1-0 to Valle Magico. Luke Fostvedt, a 2004 Community School graduate headed to the University of Redlands, had a sharp game in goal, including stuffing a breakaway opportunity late in the game for Valle Magico.
In the second game for Lefty?s, defense was a little harder to come by.
Two long goals for opponent For-est (Salt Lake City) handed Lefty?s a quick 2-0 deficit. Robin Sarchett opened up the scoring for the local team just before the half, with an assist from Wood River High School junior striker Austin McCann.
Forest added on a third goal in the second half, making it 3-1. That?s where it ended.
The two losses ended Lefty?s hope for a possible championship game berth, as Valle Magico took down Forest 2-1 on Saturday afternoon and won the three-team pool to advance into the four-team semifinals.
Lefty?s final game on Sunday was a ?friendly? against Jackson, a matchup of championship game foes in the Jackson Hole soccer tournament just two weekends earlier.
Lefty?s had won the Jackson Hole tournament with a 4-0 record, including a 3-2 overtime shootout vic-tory over Jackson, and the Ketchum squad was considered a pre-tournament favorite for last week-end?s Atkinson Park meet.
In Sunday?s ?friendly,? Lefty?s opened up the scoring early with two nice goals by Chatham Baker. He out-jumped Jackson?s goalie on a corner kick for a header goal. McCann added a goal as well for Lefty?s.
But it was Jackson owning the second half. The Wyoming club went on a 3-0 run to secure the victory 4-3. Lefty?s player Steve Fostvedt was picked up by short-handed Jackson and he added a goal to their effort.
For Lefty?s, it was a frustrating end to a rough weekend of soccer.
?Our offense struggled building up our attack, being patient and letting it come to us,? said Lefty?s coach Olin Glenne, also the tournament organ-izer. ?[Sunday] we came out playing really well in the first half, then just got tired and lost the energy we needed.?
The second local team in the tournament, Hailey?s San Lorenzo, also struggled and didn?t make it to the win column.
In the tournament?s first game, Maicol Corrales brought some of-fense with two goals for San Lorenzo. Jiro Lima put another in the back of the net, but to no avail as San Lorenzo fell 4-3 to Jackson Hole.
Offense was harder to come by in the next two games for the Hailey squad. They fell 3-0 to the tough Park City squad that just missed reaching the final. San Lorenzo was also shut out 2-0 to Weber State.
All games were played on a beautiful weekend at Atkinson Park on the upper and lower fields.
