5A REGION 1 GIRLS SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP: One moment, and a job completed

COEUR d’ALENE — The Lake City High girls soccer team has stressed for years about moments, not so much about who’s scoring goals at a high rate.

Just whatever it takes to get the job done.

In Tuesday’s 5A Region 1 championship match, it was a recent call-up from the junior varsity team that got her first moment, sending the Timberwolves back to the state tournament for the fourth straight season.

Sophomore midfielder Hannah Clark scored on an assist from Havana Johnson in the 72nd minute for Lake City, which rallied from a halftime deficit to beat the Coeur d’Alene Vikings 2-1 at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex at Lake City High.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult match,” Lake City coach Matt Ruchti said. “They’ve been building it for a while now, and they’ve got good players over there. (Coeur d’Alene coach) Andy (Vredenburg) does a good job of getting them ready to play. It’s not by luck that these two teams have played for the regional championship for the last couple of years.”

Johnson scored in the 51st minute on an assist from Bridget Rieken to even the match at 1-1 for Lake City.

“We knew we had to get it done,” Johnson said. “Bridget (Rieken) played me a great ball and I was able to get it right past the keeper and it worked out. We’re just going to focus one game at a time and hopefully get the chance to get back to the (state) championship game.”

“We talked about moments and don’t talk about championships,” Ruchti said. “We talked about this is what we do. We’ve got big-time players that are going to show up in big moments and they’re going to work hard the entire time and do everything they can. And it’s going to be difficult, but that’s OK. Something that’s difficult, we don’t look at that as a negative. We look at it as a positive, and embrace that and try to move forward.”

Clark found herself open heading to the net in the 72nd minute for the go-ahead score.

“She just brings a little bit of an attitude with her,” said Ruchti of Clark. “She doesn’t quit on any play, and it results in moments just like that. We recognized that and she started with the junior varsity program, and got a few opportunities with us. I’m glad I didn’t make a bad decision and keep her with them. We’ve been doing this a long time and that’s part of my job. I’ve got to do my job.”

“I was just running through on the play,” Clark said. “It was a great ball by Havana on the play and I was able to shoot it to the corner. It was a just really good feeling and great opportunity.”

“At this level, little mistakes can cost goals,” Vredenburg said. “And they capitalized on a mistake on a goal on us.”

Lake City (11-3-2) will face the District 5-6 runner-up at Coeur d’Alene High in the opening round of the state tournament next Thursday at 8 a.m.

“I’m really proud of all of them,” Ruchti said. “The attitude on and off the field, even when we were behind, it was 100 percent support and we believed it. Nobody flinched on the sideline, they were just saying we’re going to do it. I knew if we’d get one, we’d get two. I told Havana she’d have a good week four to five days ago, and she stepped up, did some extra work, and it worked out.”

Coeur d’Alene (9-4-1) opened the scoring in the 28th minute on a goal by Maggie Vietri, assisted by Sarah Mullen. Ali Rollins finished with nine saves for Coeur d’Alene, which faces the fifth-place team from District 3 (Boise area) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Payette in a state play-in game.

“Ali did awesome,” Vrendenburg said. “She kept us in it, especially in the second half. Hats off to Lake City. They came out in the second half and just wanted it more. Matt has built a great program over there. Now we’re focused on Saturday and winning that play-in game.”

First half — 1, Cd’A, Maggie Vietri (Sarah Mullen), 28:00. Second half — 2, LC, Havana Johnson (Bridget Rieken), 51:00. 3, LC, Hannah Clark (Johnson), 72:00.

Shots on goal — Cd’A 7, LC 13.

Saves — Cd’A, Ali Rollins 9; LC, Emily Parson 6.