Timberlake wins in shootout
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Timberlake High's April Sutton, left, and goalie Tessa Payne from Bonner's Ferry High brace for a collision Thursday during the 3A District championship game in Rathdrum. Payne was able to gain control of the ball after the collision.</p>
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press St. Maries High's Victor Grogan blasts a shot toward the goal in front of Jesus Mendez from Bonner's Ferry High.</p>
RATHDRUM — After winning their semifinal match on Tuesday, Timberlake girls soccer coach Steve Michael called the win one of the toughest he’s had in his five years as coach of the Tigers.
Consider Thursday’s 3A District 1-2 championship the new No. 1.
After finishing regulation scoreless against the Bonners Ferry Badgers, along with two 10-minute overtime periods, Timberlake (10-4-2) senior Jessie Jo Skala scored the go-ahead goal in the shootout, and Koral Yeager saved a Bonners Ferry shot to give the Tigers the 1-0 win at Rotary Field and a berth to the state 3A tournament.
“This game is No. 1 in my history,” Michael said. “I’d never won in a shootout. Not here at Timberlake or my years of coaching club ball. This is the first one — and man, it’s sweet.”
It was the third straight district title for Timberlake, which started its program in 2008.
Bonners Ferry (10-4-2) moves to a play-in match Saturday in Lewiston at 3 p.m. against the No. 2 team from District 3.
“It was a hard-fought match on both ends of the field,” Bonners Ferry coach Erin Delude said. “I think everyone on the field gave what they had.”
In the boys championship, Bonners Ferry (8-7-2) won its ninth district title in 10 years with a 3-0 victory over St. Maries.
St. Maries (10-7-1) moves to a state play-in match Saturday at 3 p.m. in Lewiston against Weiser, the runner-up from District 3.
Both boys and girls state tournaments will be played at the Sunway Soccer Complex in Twin Falls starting Thursday.
Timberlake 1, Bonners Ferry 0, SO: In the shootout, Timberlake took an early 2-1 lead on goals from Ida Jansson and Traci Wall. Bonners Ferry tied it on goals by Lindsay Taggert and Liz Racer. Racer scored after the ball bounced from Yeager’s hands and off the post and in the net.
“I was very upset at myself,” said Yeager after the goal. “If I would have just pushed it a tad harder, it would have been out.”
“Koral was huge for us today,” Michael said. “She grew up a lot in our game against Kellogg. In that match, she had a PK she had to defend in that and she blocked it. Koral’s huge. She’s huge and I’d take this keeper anywhere.”
Timberlake finished with 32 shots on goal, Bonners Ferry 16.
“Playing two overtimes like that, the bench came into effect,” Michael said. “The bench was an asset to us, not a liability and it gave us the pickup we needed. We couldn’t have asked anything else of these girls today. They did everything we asked of them.”
Bonners Ferry lost starting goalkeeper Tessa Payne to a knee injury late in its semifinal match on Tuesday against Kellogg, forcing Sarah Schuman to move from forward to goalkeeper, where she had 32 saves.
“It affected us a bit today,” Delude said. “The girl we had to put in (Schuman) is a really fast forward for us. It’s an unfortunate situation for us having to take her out of there. It was a much more physical game than we’re used to.”
“They were IML champs and to come this far, it just proves any team can come this far,” Michael said of Bonners Ferry. “I feel bad for them because it’s the second time we’ve taken this from them, but it really shows the heart of this program.”
First half — none. Second half — none. First overtime — none. Second overtime — none.
Shots on goal — TL 32, BF 16.
Saves — TL, Koral Yeager 16, BF, Sarah Schuman 32.
Bonners Ferry 3, St. Maries 0: The Badgers opened the scoring in the 33rd minute as Steffan Robles scored on a header from Jake Tremble. Bonners added on late on goals from Noah Price and Evan Moe in the final seven minutes for the win.
“This is great for our league,” Bonners Ferry coach Ed Moe said. “I’ve been coach here for four years and an assistant for two years, and that’s the toughest that St. Maries has played us. They’ve improved tremendously. They’re our toughest competition in league and made us earn it today. Our guys played great and St. Maries matched us with intensity, but we just had a little better passing and a lot more scoring chances.”
Bonners Ferry outshot St. Maries 20-3. The teams played to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 29 in St. Maries — the first result other than a loss for the Lumberjacks against the Badgers.
“We used it as a wakeup call,” Moe said. “It was a hard one to take. They used it to rally themselves and we used it as something that can never happen again.”
“Unfortunately a couple of defensive mistakes and not enough attack in the second half,” St. Maries coach Chris Renaldo said. “We played them evenly, but just had some mistakes at the end that shouldn’t have happened that happened. I thought the boys played really, really well and they really had a good game — but we didn’t get enough attack in the second and it put us on our heels.”
First half — 1, BF, Steffan Robles (Jake Tremble), 33:00. Second half — 2, BF, Noah Price (Keaton Tremble), 73:00. 3, BF, Evan Moe (penalty kick), 78:00.
Shots on goal — SM 3, BF 20.
Saves — SM, Cody Posselt 4, BF, Garrett Skeen 8.
• 4A REGION 1 GIRLS
Moscow 2, Sandpoint 1: At Sandpoint, Jilianne Renner scored the go-ahead goal in the 32nd minute as second-seeded Bears defeated the top-seeded Bulldogs in the championship match at War Memorial Field.
Moscow, which earned a state berth for the first time since 2008, will face Kuna in the opening round next Thursday at the Idaho Falls Soccer Complex.