Lake City blanks Coeur d'Alene

COEUR d'ALENE - Lake City High midfielder Kade Murphree paid a slight price for scoring his goal in the first minute of the Timberwolves' 2-0 boys soccer win over Coeur d'Alene on Thursday.

But the senior will take it - in fact, he'll wear his athletic tape with pride - after the Timberwolves remained undefeated at 7-0 (2-0 5A Inland Empire League) after beating the Vikings at Coeur d'Alene High.

A quick pass by senior defender Shay Hannigan-Luther helped set up Murphree's first strike, which came from the left side facing the goal from less than 15 yards out, inside the penalty box.

"A player landed on my left foot after he slid into me," Murphree said. "Shay flicked it onto me and it went off my face and I shot it with my foot. It definitely feels good winning, but it's not over."

Timberwolves forward Jack Barrett put the finishing touches on the game with a sliding score in the 80th minute, on a quick touch pass by Alec Maldanado.

"I saw the heart and soul on both teams," Lake City coach Chad Beadell said. " It stinks when you lose one of your starters in the first two minutes. Coeur d'Alene's a really good team. It was a good game today."

The tough part for the Vikings (6-1, 1-1), who suffered their first loss, was a red card on defender Dillion Dunteman, after his tackle of Lake City midfielder Cole Johnson in the 45th minute.

After the whistle was blown and the play was dead, the referee ruled Dunteman poked Johnson in the face with the toe of his shoe. Coeur d'Alene (6-1, 1-1) had to play a man down the rest of the way and had a tough time getting much going, as it was outshot, 14-2.

"We kind of lacked creating chances," Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Lake said. "It's hard to create a lot of chances when you're playing with 10 men for the last 35 minutes of the game. The chances kind of go out the door when you have 10 men."

Coeur d'Alene midfielder Gunnar Skindlov's left-footed boot from less than 20 yards away went high over the crossbar with one minute left in the first half, which was one of the Vikings' best chances to tie the game. An open-net chance by forward Daniel Challinor from about 12 yards out in the fifth minute missed wide left.

"I think we gave up an early goal and we had to chase the game," Lake said. "When the red card happened, my guys played hard and we went for it and that last one (goal) was just bang-bang."

Coeur d'Alene goalkeeper Garrett Boyce's best save came in the 72nd minute, when he fell down to make a diving two-handed stop on Barrett.

"Any given year, whether we're supposed to be really good or Coeur d'Alene's supposed to be really good, or if either one of us is supposed to have a down year, it doesn't matter," Beadell said. "You can throw everything out the window. It's going to be a good, physical match. We took full advantages of our chances today and we got a little lucky. They missed some stuff and now we've got to refocus and we've got to get ready for the next game."

Lake City plays Saturday at Post Falls, then Coeur d'Alene hosts Post Falls on Tuesday.

First half - 1, LC, Kade Murphree (Shay Hannigan-Luther), 1:00. Second half - 2, LC, Jack Barrett (Alec Maldonado), 80:00.

Shots on goal - LC 14, Cd'A 2.

Saves - LC, Jared Stone 2, Cd'A, Garrett Boyce 12.