STATE 3A BOYS SOCCER TOURNAMENT: Cd'A Charter warms up to the task — Panthers capture third-place game
JASON ELLIOTT/Press Members of the Coeur d'Alene Charter boys soccer team celebrate after finishing third in the state 3A boys soccer tournament at The Fields in Post Falls on Saturday. Coeur d'Alene Charter beat Gooding 2-0 for the program's first trophy at state in its second year.
JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene Charter senior midfielder Quinn Clovis plays the ball up the field during Saturday's state 3A third-place match against Gooding at The Fields in Post Falls.
POST FALLS — Following an early setback on Saturday, the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy boys soccer team had two options.
Be cold, or just embrace it.
The Panthers chose the latter.
Seniors Jordan Gallegos and Ronan Malaghan scored goals for the Panthers in a 2-0 win over the Gooding Senators in the state 3A boys soccer third-place match at The Fields at Real Life.
“Last year, we lost both of our games at state,” said Malaghan, who also started on that 2019 Charter team. “We had no idea what the competition was going to be like. We lost our first game by a lot, and the second game, we competed a lot better. We trained harder over the summer and won twice at state this year. It’s an awesome feeling.”
Coeur d’Alene Charter finishes 7-5-3. Gooding finishes 11-3-1.
Due to snow, Coeur d’Alene had its semifinal against Sun Valley Community School pushed back from Friday afternoon to 9 a.m. on Saturday. After volunteers worked throughout the night to clear nearly 8 inches of snow off the field, the Panthers lost 1-0 to the Cutthroat Trout in overtime.
“The hardest thing was trying to get them back physically and emotionally,” Charter coach Justin Nitti said. “It’s cold out here. They were hurting and it was a tough-fought game against a good team. It’s unfortunate what happened in the first game, but the guys, experiencing the cold, understood what it’s like and they did well today.”
Malaghan knew the challenge that was up for the Panthers to get a trophy.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” Malaghan said. “But we got it done. We just got out and did what we had to do to get it done.”
Gallegos opened the scoring on a scramble in the 19th minute for Coeur d’Alene Charter.
“Even though we were up, some aspects of the game we seemed like we were down a little bit,” Nitti said. “But the second goal, and getting one into the wind, they were good to go.”
“Each of our seniors (Jordan, Ronan and Quinn), they’ve played for me the last two years,” Nitti said. “Each of them stepped up in this game. Ronan has bruises all over him. It was big for all of them to step up. I’m just glad we got some hardware for them.”
First half — 1, Charter, Jordan Gallegos (Quinn Clovis), 19:00. Second half — 2, Charter, Ronan Malaghan (unassisted), 70:00.
Shots on goal — Good 5, Charter 7.
Saves — Good, unknown, 5; Charter, Miles Taylor 5.
