Lake City girls third; boys fourth after beating rival Vikings
5A
GIRLS
IDAHO FALLS — After his team played two emotional games in the state 5A tournament, Lake City coach Matt Ruchti wondered if his team had enough emotionally and physically to get through another 80 minutes.
It did.
Bridget Rieken scored on an assist from Maddy Lasher in the 26th minute, the lone goal of the match, as the Timberwolves held off Timberline High of Boise 1-0 in the state 5A third-place match at the Idaho Falls Soccer Complex on Saturday.
“I think we had a lot of momentum there in the first half to put a couple of more goals in,” Ruchti said. “We had some tired legs, but (Lake City goalkeeper) Hailey Jo (Parks) had a phenomenal game.”
Parks finished with 10 saves for Lake City, which finished 15-3. Lake City beat Eagle 3-1 in the opening round on Thursday, then lost 2-1 to eventual champion Rocky Mountain in a Friday semifinal.
“It was just another one of those games on the last day of the tournament,” Ruchti said. “We were just hoping the girls would respond emotionally, and physically be able to get through the game. And they did.”
Timberline finished 11-7-4.
First half — 1, LC, Bridget Rieken (Maddy Lasher), 26:00. Second half — none.
Shots on goal — LC 14, TL 10.
Saves — LC, Hailey Jo Parks 10; TL, unknown, 13.
BOYS
Lake City 2
Coeur d’Alene 1
IDAHO FALLS — After seeing each other three times already, there wasn’t much that either the Vikings or Timberwolves could do that the other hadn’t seen before.
After a scoreless first 70 minutes, Lake City broke through in the final 10 minutes, getting goals from Bennett Cunningham and Greyden Lee to edge Coeur d’Alene in the state 5A consolation championship at the Idaho Falls Soccer Complex.
“We worked really hard this season to win the Inland Empire League and District 1 championship so we could get to the state tournament and play some teams outside our district,” third-year Lake City coach Alan Rich said. “It’s somewhat ironic to travel almost 500 miles to play a team that’s about 2 miles from our school here in Coeur d’Alene. There weren’t a lot of tactics, strategies or formations that they hadn’t seen before. We made a few adjustments, but we put the game in the hands of players who had proven in our previous three meetings that they could get the job done.”
Lake City had beaten Coeur d’Alene 5-4 on Sept. 15, 4-2 on Sept. 25 and 3-0 in the Region 1 championship match on Oct. 10.
Lake City finishes 16-1. Coeur d’Alene went 12-6 in former Viking Braden Ridgewell’s first season as coach.
“We started a little slower than I would have liked, but played solid defense as we settled into the game,” Rich said. “I am extremely proud of this group and I believe we represented our families, school and our city with class. Kudos to Braden in his first year coaching the varsity boys at Coeur d’Alene for getting them to the tournament.”
Dylan Bengtson scored in the 78th minute for Coeur d’Alene.
“As far as possession and shots go, it felt like we had the run of the play,” Ridgewell said. “Our guys really held it together and played a great game. We gave up two unlucky goals, but I’m proud of them. We fought to the end.”
First half — none. Second half — 1, LC, Bennett Cunningham (Greyden Lee), 72:00. 2, LC, Lee (Jacob Janzen), 76:00. 3, Cd’A, Dylan Bengtson (unassisted), 78:00.
Shots on goal — Cd’A 8, LC 10.
Saves — Cd’A, Cooper Proctor 8; LC, Chase Norris 7.