One play away
LOREN BENOIT/Press North Idaho College forward Linnea Pretzer, left, and Kendall Bastine of Community Colleges of Spokane fight for possession during Wednesday’s match at Eisenwinter Field in Coeur d’Alene.
Sofia Schnepf, right, of North Idaho College dribbles the ball around Community Colleges of Spokane defender Molly Thies during Wednesday's match at NIC. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
North Idaho College defender Zhu Parker passes the ball upfield to a teammate in Wednesday's match against Community Colleges of Spokane at NIC. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — In 180 minutes of soccer, it came down to just one shot between North Idaho College and the Community Colleges of Spokane.
Just one ball, that’s all.
Megan Wilkerson scored an unassisted goal at 49:38 of a Northwest Athletic Conference East Region match, sending the Sasquatch past the Cardinals 1-0 at Eisenwinter Field on Wednesday.
The win gives Spokane (12-3-4, 10-1-3, 33 points) the East Region title, with NIC (8-5-5, 8-3-3, 27 points) finishing second and Walla Walla (11-4-3, 8-3-3) third. NIC won a head-to-head tiebreaker with Walla Walla, beating the Warriors 4-0 and playing to a 0-0 draw in their regional matches.
All three were already in the NWAC playoffs, with matches starting next Wednesday.
The teams played to a 0-0 draw at Spokane Falls Community College on Sept. 26. It was one of five draws NIC played this season.
“The East Region has been that way for all of the top five teams,” NIC coach Dan Hogan said. “Spokane had a couple of ties and a loss against teams you wouldn’t expect them to and same with us, and Walla Walla. It ends up coming down to us again.”
Wilkinson had five of Spokane’s nine shots on goal in the match.
“Megan’s just a beast to handle when they get her going forward,” Hogan said. “Unfortunately, the goal they scored on our back line they got when we pulled up trying to catch her offsides. They just play hard, all the time. They’ve got good athletes and that’s something we don’t get in practice enough. But moving forward, this should prove that we can play with one of the top teams in the conference for sure.”
NIC returns home to face Portland (7-7-1, 6-5-0), the third-seed from the South Region next Wednesday at either 1:30 or 2 p.m. according to NIC athletics director Al Williams. Walla Walla visits Lane (14-1-2), the second-seed from the South Region in the opening round next Wednesday.
“We’re going to go kind of light in the next few days and give them a day off on the weekend,” Hogan said. “We’ll get back into it. The girls know what we want from them now, and we need to make sure we’re playing clean and take care of business.”
Kaysha Bailey had eight saves for NIC.
“Outside of the one mistake, I thought our defense played really well again,” Hogan said. “Kaysha was great in goal again, made a couple of nice stops on crosses. Defensively, that’s what’s going to help get us through the playoffs.”
Spokane lost at Yakima Valley 5-0 on Oct. 10, tied Wenatchee Valley 1-1 before beating Walla Walla (2-0) on Oct. 17 and Columbia Basin 2-1 at home last Saturday.
“To go back 10 days, we were in a tough spot,” Community Colleges of Spokane coach Jim Martinson said. “We put ourselves in a hole and just talked to the girls that we’re still alive and need to win three games. Between injuries, being sick and just grinding, they found a way. NIC is a hell of a team, and they battled hard as well. They had an answer for everything. They’re very good in the air and middle of the field. They’re fast, and there’s challenges everywhere. Defensively, we had to be very sharp and knew if we made one mistake that they’d get through on us.”
First half — none. Second half — 1, CCS, Megan Wilkinson (unassisted), 49:24.
Shots on goal — CCS 7, NIC 8.
Saves — CCS, Mickey Ramirez 7; NIC, Kaysha Bailey 8.