STATE 5A GIRLS SOCCER: Lake City falls in 2OTs to Timberline in opener

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — They started slow, and gave up a goal in the first seven minutes.

But the Lake City Timberwolves bounced back in the second half with the tying goal, and had a chance to win late in regulation.

But midway through the second overtime, junior Hayden Wilsey from Timberline of Boise got in behind the Lake City defense, chased down a through ball and beat the keeper far post from about 12 yards out as Timberline beat Lake City 2-1 in double overtime in a first-round game of the state 5A girls soccer tournament Thursday at Coeur d’Alene High.

“I thought it could go either way for us today, and I thought we played well enough in the second half to get a result, and almost finished it in the last moment of the game,” Lake City coach Matt Ruchti said. “That’s how it goes, unfortunately, but we’ll bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow.”

Lake City (8-4-0), coming off its eighth straight Region 1 title, will play Madison (11-5-1) of Rexburg in a loser-out match today at 11:30 a.m. at Coeur d’Alene High. Madison lost 12-0 to Rocky Mountain (13-1-0) of Meridian on Thursday. Timberline (12-3-0), the third-place finisher from the District 3 tournament, plays Rocky Mountain today at 2 p.m. at Lake City High in a semifinal game.

“We got the first score and they came out in the second half and showed they were ready to play,” 10th-year Timberline coach Ross Schultz said. “So our girls just had to calm down and put it away.”

Timberline dominated the first half, and scored in the seventh minute on a blast from the right side by Elli Lewis from about 20 yards out. Timberline outshot Lake City 8-0 in the first half.

Ruchti made a couple personnel changes at halftime, and put a couple girls in different spots. Lake City tied it four minutes into the second half when Georgia Whitehead laid off a ball for Kayla Dearmin, a junior who sent a left-footed blast into the net from some 20 yards out.

“We just wanted to connect more passes, and we found more moments to connect passes, and we played our way back into the game,” Ruchti said.

Hailey Jo Parks, Lake City’s junior goalkeeper, was superb with 10 saves, including a couple point-blank stops on 1v1s.

“They came out a lot stronger than us in the first 5-10 minutes, when they got that goal, and that kinda put us down, but we came back, and I’m really proud of us for doing that,” said Whitehead, a sophomore. We battled … at the end of the day it’s disappointing, but I’m proud of us for coming out and fighting and sticking with it.”

Lake City, with the momentum in the second half, nearly snuck in the game-winner late in regulation.

“If you’re up 1-0 you have a tendency to rock back on your heels,” Schultz said. “They came at us and they had a little momentum. I told my girls, it comes in waves. Absorb the wave, and we’ll see what happens after that. We did a little more than absorb; they got washed over the top on that one.”

But Wilsey made the most of one of the few good chances Timberline had in the second half and overtime.

“I was very happy with the team effort today,” Ruchti said. “I told them they have one hour to feel like crap, and then after that hour, we’re back at it.”

First half — TL, Elli Lewis (unassisted), 7:00. Second half — LC, Kayla Dearmin (Georgia Whitehead), 44:00. First overtime — none. Second overtime — TL, Hayden Wilsey (London Carter), 96:00.

Shots on goal — TL 15, LC 4.

Saves — TL, Audrey Taylor 1. LC, Hailey Jo Parks 10.