T-Wolves, Viks battle to tie

COEUR d'ALENE - Both teams entered - and exited - Thursday's match without a loss in the standings.

But by the end of the day, it was a loss that had both coaches at Lake City and Coeur d'Alene High concerned the most.

With the match tied at 2 in the 79th minute, Coeur d'Alene goalkeeper Garrett Boyce was injured making a save on the final shot of the game from Lake City's Kade Murphee, resulting in a 2-2 draw in a 5A Inland Empire League boys soccer match at Coeur d'Alene High.

With Lake City leading 2-1, Coeur d'Alene junior midfielder Gunnar Skindlov scored the tying goal in the 79th minute to even the score at 2.

"We just threw everyone forward," Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Lake said. "I told our guys on the bench and on the field that I didn't care if we lose 3-1, 4-1 or 5-1, we're going to keep pushing, and we just got fortunate."

Boyce finished with nine saves for Coeur d'Alene, and Tanner Horton collected eight saves for Lake City.

Boyce hit his head on the right post of the goal while diving to make a save in extra time. He remained on the ground for several minutes, and the final whistle blew after he had been attended to.

"It looked really scary," said Lake of the final play. "But I think he's going to be OK."

Lake City coach Chad Beadell has coached Boyce in club soccer.

"The scary part was seeing him hit the post," Beadell said. "He's a great player and played well for them today."

Lake City (4-0-1, 1-0-1 5A IEL) hosts Post Falls on Saturday at noon. Coeur d'Alene (5-0-2, 1-0-1) travels to Post Falls on Tuesday.

"We've both got the same record in league and it could come down to the next time we play them," Beadell said. "Hopefully, because we've got Post Falls again and Gabe's (Lawson) team is going to have something to say about it too. I thought we played well and our energy level was good. For our guys' sake, I wish we could have kept that one out, but we'll learn from this and get better."

Coeur d'Alene junior midfielder Devin Kohles opened the scoring, connecting on a goal from 20 yards out to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead six minutes into the match.

"It was a heck of a shot," Beadell said. "He took a really good look and banged it off the post."

Lake City gained a 2-1 lead at halftime on goals by Dylan Flolo in the 11th minute and by Murphee in the 27th.

"I thought we answered back pretty good with those goals and Tanner had some huge saves," Beadell said. "At the end of the match, we lost the mark on a player, and our kid feels bad, but we'll learn from it and move on."

First half - 1, Cd'A, Devin Kohles (unassisted), 6:00. 2, LC, Dylan Flolo (Tanner Horton), 11:00. 3, LC, Kade Murphee (Alec Maldonado), 27:00. Second half - 4, Cd'A, Gunnar Skindlov (unassisted), 79:00.

Shots on goal - LC 11, Cd'A 9.

Saves - LC, Tanner Horton 8; Cd'A, Garrett Boyce 9.