For the week of August 14 - 20, 2002

Park City grabs 
soccer title

Lefty’s finishes 2-1, 
San Lorenzo plays well

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It wasn’t the best of weekends for the Lefty’s F.C. men’s soccer team during the 26th annual Ketchum Classic tournament Saturday and Sunday at Atkinson Park.

Defending champion Lefty’s, bulletproof last August with four wins in its four games, came out flat in its first game Saturday morning and dropped a 2-1 contest to Seattle.

Steve Fostvedt of Lefty’s set up his team’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to Seattle Saturday, then scored the game winner with less than a minute left in Sunday’s fifth-place game to salvage a 2-1 Lefty’s victory. Express photo by Willy Cook

"We had problems finishing," said Lefty’s ace goalkeeper Olin Glenne, who acknowledged that after a month layoff he wasn’t as sharp as he might have been. Glenne allowed two Seattle goals in the first 35 minutes.

The outcome, combined with Seattle’s one-goal victory over Forest of Utah later Saturday, eliminated Lefty’s from championship contention in the 10-team tournament.

Lefty’s won its final two games, 6-1 over Forest Saturday and 2-1 over the Hailey-based San Lorenzo squad in Sunday’s fifth-place game. San Lorenzo had a good tourney, winning a shootout and battling evenly with eventual champion Park City.

Lefty’s midfielder Sam Smith was in the middle of plenty of attacks during last weekend’s soccer tournament in Ketchum. Express photo by Willy Cook

Capturing its second Ketchum Classic in three years was Park City (Utah) 2-1 over Jackson Hole (Wyo.). Park City had lost 1-0 to Lefty’s in last year’s championship game. Most recently Park City downed Lefty’s 2-1 in the Jackson tourney final July 28.

Glenne said, "This is the first year in the six I’ve been involved on our team that we haven’t won at least one of our summer tournaments. We have the talent. We just need to get everybody fired up and playing together."

Setting up the title game match-up was Park City’s 3-2 semi-final victory over Weber State (Utah) and Jackson Hole’s late scoring flurry that sent Seattle home 6-4 in the other semi.

 

An uneven tourney for Lefty’s

Much improved over its past appearances in the tournament, Seattle caught Lefty’s on its heels and pressed the action Saturday. The early 2-0 Seattle cushion stood up.

A little back-and-forth passing between Lefty’s striker Dom Conti and teammate Steve Fostvedt resulted in a Conti goal three minutes into the second half, but it was the final goal.

Stunned, Lefty’s jumped out to a 4-0 half-time lead and had no trouble with Forest of Utah Saturday evening. The final score favored Lefty’s 6-1.

Scoring in the first half were Conti, Steve Fostvedt, Robin Sarchett and Cory Fitzsimmons from Colorado. Glenne came out of the goal, replaced by high school player Luke Fostvedt, and stuffed home a penalty in the second half. John Andonian also scored for Lefty’s.

The outcome sent Lefty’s up against San Lorenzo, an international squad that practices in Hailey and plays in the 18-team Magic Valley Spanish Soccer League based in Jerome. San Lorenzo’s 11-3 record currently ranks second in the league.

Glenne praised San Lorenzo, saying "they had their act together." Once again, missed opportunities hurt Lefty’s and enabled San Lorenzo to stay close and tie it after the half.

A through-ball from Andonian ended up on the foot of John Campbell, who found the corner of the net 28 minutes into the game for a 1-0 Lefty’s lead at intermission.

Pomona College-bound and all-time Community School leading scorer Josh Stanek was in the middle of several solid Lefty’s chances in the second half—along with veteran midfielders Kurt Funkhouser and Sam Smith of Lefty’s, and Campbell.

But it was Chary Gaona of San Lorenzo who broke through for a 1-1 tie at the 65-minute mark.

It looked ominously like a tie game until Steve Fostvedt drilled a left-footer into the corner for the 2-1 Lefty’s victory, with 30 seconds left.

"Stevie’s goal was clutch," said Glenne about the Ketchum product, now living in Colorado, who is now the longest-standing Lefty’s player.

Glenne thanked his team’s 2002 sponsors—Lefty’s Bar & Grill, Subshack, Sun Valley Insurance and KB’s Burritos. There’s a chance Lefty’s might travel for a tournament in Whitefish, Mt. Sept. 8, he said.

Meantime Lefty’s continues to have practices Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Atkinson Park.

 

San Lorenzo’s scorers

San Lorenzo of Hailey opened the two-day tournament with a 3-2 loss to Park City. Chary Gaona and Juan Baltazar put goals in the net.

Next up was an exciting San Lorenzo shootout win over Osprey.

Scoring for San Lorenzo in the 4-4 regulation game against Osprey were Ciro Lima, Richard Hidalgo, Oscar Hidalgo and Mike Corrales.

Making penalty kicks were Mati Nicolini, Richard Hidalgo, Oscar Hidalgo, Freddie Garcia and Juan Baltazar.

Although Hispanic soccer teams have practiced for many years in the valley, it was the first time such a team has participated in the annual Ketchum soccer tournament.

 

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