THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016
Not long after winning the biggest game of her life, a state championship high school girls soccer game decided on the final penalty kick, Larissa Bailey wondered one thing:
How did her cousin, Grace Bailey, do in her game?
Larissa, a junior left back at Lake City, helped the Timberwolves win a state 5A title Saturday afternoon at Coeur d’Alene.
An hour before Lake City’s game started, and hundreds of miles away, Grace Bailey, a freshman outside right back who plays for the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy girls soccer team, took the field for the state 3A title game in Twin Falls.
“Right after the game. I ran up to my parents and asked right away, ‘How did Grace do on her game?’ And they said, ‘she won,’” Larissa said. “I was so happy for her. She really deserved it, she’s worked so hard.”
Coeur d’Alene Charter defeated Community School 2-1 for its second state title in three years. When the Panthers’ game was over, Lake City’s game was still going on, headed for a dramatic finish.
After her team won, Grace wanted to know how Larissa and her team were doing.
“My dad (Mike) and uncle (Doug, Larissa’s dad), they were keeping in touch, so I could find out that way,” Grace said.
And after she found out her cousin and the T-Wolves won?
“I thought that was really exciting,” Grace said. “I was super happy for her, and I thought it was really cool that two people in our family got to go to state and win.”
THEIR FAMILIES live only a couple blocks apart, and Larissa and Grace are close. Both play club soccer, but have never played on the same team, nor against each other. They attend each other’s games when they can, and support each other through phone calls and texts.
Larissa and Lake City won their regional title on a Tuesday, to qualify for state. Two days later, Larissa watched Grace and Coeur d’Alene Charter win their district title.
“And I was like, ‘wow, we could both really win this together, and be state champs in the same family,’” said Larissa, who plays club ball for the Coeur d’Alene Sting Timbers, after previously playing for the Thunder. “That’s probably when it really clicked.”
Grace, who also plays club ball for the Sting Timbers, attends Classical Christian Academy in Post Falls, but is able to play for Coeur d’Alene Charter because Classical Christian does not have a girls soccer team.
“I was really happy for her,” Grace said of Larissa winning a state title. “She’s a junior, and I know that she works really hard to help her team do well. I was really happy she could go to state and win.”
Larissa echoed a similar sentiment — and more.
“I’m probably more proud of her than I am myself,” Larissa said. “I just know that she wanted it so bad, and she’s worked so hard for it.”
“And she’s my cousin, so I always want the best for her.”
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.