T-Wolves, Trojans on to state

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d'ALENE - For the first 66 minutes of Wednesday's 5A Region 1 tournament match, you'd be hard pressed to tell which team was the defending state champion and a squad entering with only two wins on the season.

Thanks to a goal by a fresh face to its roster, the defending state champions will get a chance to defend that title.

Lake City freshman Havana Johnson scored at the 66:48 mark of the match to give the top-seeded Timberwolves a 1-0 win against the fourth seeded Coeur d'Alene Vikings at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex, clinching a berth in the state 5A tournament.

Lake City (8-5-3) will host second-seeded Post Falls (10-3-2) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regional title game to determine seeding to state. Post Falls beat Lewiston 2-0 in other action on Wednesday.

Coeur d'Alene finishes 2-12-1 in coach Andy Vredenberg's first season as coach.

"We knew it was going to be an up-and-down match," Lake City coach Matt Ruchti said. "Coeur d'Alene, there record doesn't show it, but they're not an easy team to beat. Andy's got that team playing well, but they're just missing a couple of pieces. They've played a lot of close games this season. We knew it was going to be a tough match. We talked about having to win today 1-0 or 2-1 and it was just going to happen that way."

After a sluggish start to the match, Ruchti went to his reserves after 15 minutes to get a spark.

"That's been the nice thing about this group is that we're a deep ground we'll play 16-17 players," Ruchti said. "It was kind of a message to the other group that if you're not getting it done, we're going to give someone else a try."

That someone else was Johnson on Wednesday, who beat the Coeur d'Alene defense for the lone goal of the match.

"We had a few balls that got played in today that were dangerous," Ruchti said. "But Havana struck the ball well and that's what she does. She gets chances in front of the net and shoots the ball well for a 14-year old."

"They were coming at me pretty good, but I had an open shot," Johnson said. "I thought it was going to go wide, but when it hit the net, I went crazy."

"Havana knows her role and it was probably the biggest goal of her career," Ruchti said. "They know, no matter how many minutes they get, they've got to make the most of those minutes and that's what she did today. She was definitely the most dangerous player on the field for us that final 15-20 minutes."

Madi Williams had 10 saves for Coeur d'Alene.

"Madi played great today," Vredenburg said. "She had some big saves for us. Bekah (Brendis) played awesome, Corey (Hainey) played awesome, but things just didn't go our way today. It was a great game. We came out and fought hard. Hats off to Lake City. They played a great game and had a great shot there at the end."

First half - none. Second half - 1, LC, Havana Johnson (unassisted), 66:48.

Shots on goal - Cd'A 5, LC 11.

Saves - Cd'A, Madi Williams 5; LC, Tiegan Horton 10.