NWAC WOMEN'S SOCCER PLAYOFFS: An intelligent play
COEUR d’ALENE — In one of the most intelligent decisions for a goal of the season, North Idaho College freshman midfielder Emily Aspden turned herself into a hero, in the first round of the Northwest Athletic Conference women’s soccer tournament.
Aspden scored the go-ahead goal in a 2-1 win over Chemeketa Community College of Salem and it wasn’t your garden variety score. Dribbling the ball out wide and to her right, trying to find Haley White on a run, Aspden drew Storm goalkeeper Alyssa Flores to the right side. Instead of trying to softly touch the ball toward White, Aspden instead took two more dribbles and drilled it from 20 yards away. The ball took a slow, rolling pace to Aspden’s left, and Flores could not get to the ball in time.
“I saw Haley out wide, so I tried to draw the defender, keep my options open and take a shot,” Aspden said. “I like to go out wide, I like to make plays rather than score. But it was a close game, so you had to take risks.”
Coach Dan Hogan of the East No. 2 seed Cardinals (11-5-2) was pretty impressed with the play by the player from Victoria, British Columbia.
“She was carrying the ball to the right,” Hogan said. “So she (Flores) was probably looking her to shoot to the right post. She’s a real smart player and that’s what we liked about her when we recruited her, we saw her in a couple games in Seattle and it takes a lot of experience to know how to do that.”
The goal was a real good strike and Chemeketa interim head coach Sara Landis was just fine with how her team played.
“This was the best game we’ve played all season” Landis said. “Our girls left it out on the field. That was a great goal, there was nothing our goalkeeper could do.”
The Storm tied the game in the 39th minute, 20 minutes after NIC scored its first goal. Sophomore forward McKenna Kendall of Chemeketa (10-6-2) slid on a muddy patch of the field and her ball sailed over a leaping Cardinals goalkeeper Cassandra Van Der Mey.
“She got enough on the ball,” Landis said. “We couldn’t have asked for a prettier goal.”
NIC scored first in the 19th minute, on a well-struck ball by Jasmine Smith past Flores. She took a crossing pass and booted the ball in from right to left.
“It was a nice pass from Haley White to Jasmine,” Hogan said. “Jasmine did a nice job finishing low, often times she kicks it over the crossbar.”
NIC’s defense turned away a hard attempt to tie the score in the final 15 minutes of the game. Eve Ponce hit a high ball that was blocked by a jumping Van Der Mey.
“At the end it gets like that,” Hogan said. “Especially when teams are fighting with everything they have to tie it up and so it kind of becomes a scramble.”
NIC plays at noon on Saturday at North No. 1 seed Peninsula (19-1-0) in Port Angeles, Wash.
“They’re the No. 1-ranked team in the NWAC,” Hogan said. “They beat us 5-0 earlier this season. So it’ll be a tough match, but funny things happen in soccer.”
First half — 1, NIC, Jasmine Smith (Haley White) 19:00. 2, Chem, McKenna Kendall (unassisted), 39:00. Second half — 3, NIC, Emily Aspden (unassisted), 56:00.
Shots on goal — Chem 4, NIC 6.
Saves — Chem, Alyssa Flores 4; NIC, Cassandra Van Der Mey 4.