For the week of October 15 - 21, 2003

Wolverines reel in Cutthroats, 3-2

Girls’ league soccer showdown

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By JODY ZARKOS
Express Staff Writer

A goal by Erin McQueen with seven minutes remaining locked up a 3-2 victory for Wood River over league-rival The Community School Tuesday afternoon in a girls’ varsity soccer showdown at Elkhorn.

With the win, the Wood River Wolverines (7-8-3 overall), secured the #1 seed and homefield advantage in the upcoming 3A Fourth District tournament. The #2-seeded defending tournament champion Cutthroats fell to 5-2-2.

Wood River tackles the winner of Saturday’s Buhl-Wendell game Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. at South Valley Sports Complex field, Hailey. At the same time next Tuesday, The Community School hosts #3-seeded Declo at the Sagewillow soccer field.

If Wood River and The Community School win next Tuesday’s semi-final games, they’ll play for the district title and top seed to state next Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Hailey.

"I am very pleased," Wood River coach Doug Stouffer said after the Tuesday’s exciting game at Elkhorn. "They did a very good job. They stayed on their marks and we had lots of good opportunities to shoot."

In the game’s opening minutes, Rebecca Schwartzenberger scored to put the Wolverines up 1-0. The Community School equalized 15 minutes later when Morgan Arritola buried a hard shot from the far left.

A hand ball in the box gave Wood River a penalty kick which Kate Elgee converted for a 2-1 advantage which held up through halftime.

Running hard, both teams had plenty of opportunities to score, although the Wolverines outshot the Cutthroats 8-3 in the first half. Sun Valley goalkeeper Gussi Ochi made several key saves, including a pair of dead-on stops on shots by Charlotte Gourlay to go to break trailing by one.

The Wolverines had two near misses in the opening minutes of the second half with both a penalty kick and empty-net attempt going wide.

Sun Valley scored at the 11-minute mark, when halfback Jenny Rutherford cut off an attempted clearing pass and served it to Cassidy Doucette on the far post. Doucette punched it in for a 2-all tie.

Shots were harder to come by in the second half. Wood River took four and the Community School three.

No attempt was more important than McQueen’s, however.

Carrying the ball down the right side with two defenders on her, the junior midfielder launched a perfectly-placed shot from the 25-yard line and buried it top left corner for a 3-2 Wood River lead.

The Cutthroats pushed hard at the end but thanks to some key headers by defenders Gina Thomas and Elgee, Wood River persevered to win.

Sun Valley coach Kelly Feldman summed up, "We had some defensive confusion and they had some good shots. They played well. We’ll get them next week."

The season series between the two Blaine County teams is shaping up as a carbon copy of last year, when the teams tied 1-1 in Hailey and the Wolverines won 3-1 at Elkhorn. In the rubber match, the Cutthroats captured the district title game 2-1 in a penalty kick shootout.

Wood River, shooting to keep its streak alive of never ha ing a losing season, now holds a 10-3-5 advantage over The Community School in the 18-game girls’ soccer series over eight seasons. They’ve outscored the Cutthroats 53-21.

 

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