Youth Sports Aug. 14, 2024

Courtesy photo The North Idaho Water Polo (NIWP) girls 18U team won the Session III 2024 National Junior Olympics Tournament in Dallas recently. In the front row from left are JIllian Provost, Claire Thorpe, Alena Gonzales, Lauren Watson and Laura Mohr; and back row from left, head coach Mark Collingham, Addy Karoblis, Ella Mohr, Greta Hover, Maren Hover, Simone Gonzales and Gianna Gonzales.

Courtesy photo Ella Wilson, 14, and an incoming freshman at Coeur d'Alene High, won the 2024 Girls 13-14 Idaho Junior Amateur golf championship at Teton Lakes Golf Course in Rexburg. Ella shot rounds of 77, 71, and 75 to win her age division by 24 strokes.

Courtesy photo The Sting Soccer Club 2012 boys Academy team took second place last weekend at the Northwest Cup in Spokane. In the front row from left are Connor McKenna, Blake Cline, Jimmy Greene, Mason Fantozzi, Colin Hutchins, Alister Campbell, Henry Bowlby and assistant coach Robin Bundy; middle row from left, assistant coach Scott McNiel, Zeek McNiel, Sander Bundy, Micah Brumbach, Breesen Ellis and Camden Nelson; and back row from left, Evan Peak, Cooper Nusser, Jake Young, Ben Thomas, Kai Peraldo and Max Shaporda. Not pictured is coach Nick Funkhouser.

Courtesy photo Coeur d'Alene High varsity baseball players Bam Fenter, left, and Gavin Helms were invited to play on the class of 2026 Idaho team at the Baseball Northwest Northwest Championships Aug. 8-11 in Vancouver, Wash. The Northwest Championships are a showcase tournament for college and pro scouts with teams made up of players from Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Utah.

Courtesy photo The Sting Soccer Club 2013 Girls team took first place in the U-12 Gold Bracket of the Northwest Cup in Spokane last weekend. The Sting beat Three Rivers Soccer Club G13 2-0 in the final. In the front row from left are Nevie Sousley, Kinsey Kiefer, Kyal Carlson, Nora Schock, Peyton Cantrell, Emma Storlie, Evellyn Howard, and Kaylee Evans; and back row from left, coach Tomas Barrera, Addison Salas, Hayden Hays, Felicity Miller, Kinsley May, Presley Hart, Nora Snyder, Sophia Quigley, Alexis Morisette, Amelia McGowan, Novalee Hoel and assistant coach Gary Evans.

| August 14, 2024 1:15 AM

WATER POLO

North Idaho Water Polo girls 18U team wins Junior Olympic national championship: The North Idaho Water Polo (NIWP) girls 18U team won the Session III 2024 National Junior Olympics Tournament in Dallas recently.

At nationals, the NIWP team started out on Thursday, Aug. 1 with two rather easy victories: 20-2 vs the Houston Hydra Empusa and then 22-4 against Zilla Water Polo. The two victories put NIWP into the Platinum (top) division. The next day NIWP played very well against a good Utah Kracken team and won 19-5. Later that day the team came up against a very disciplined Viper Pigeon Red, who after a low-scoring and very tough match outscored the NIWP by one goal (5-4). Losing this game made the club’s goal of playing for a championship much harder — it would need to win the next five games in a row in order to win a championship.

The next morning NIWP played another solid team (Northwest Chicago-NWC) and tied them 10-10 in regular time, thus going to a shoot-out. The shoot-out also ended in a tie, requiring a sudden-death shoot-out. Alena Gonzalez did a fantastic job in goal, blocking two attempts and scoring on all her shots. Gianna Gonzalez provided the final necessary goal after a NWC miss to win the game 10.4 to 10.3.

After that, NIWP proceeded to win two more tough close games that day — St Louis Lions Black (13-10) and Storm (15-9). Three games in one day is a lot of water polo and the players were extremely tired by the end of the third game, all of which were challenging games.

However, winning these three games put NIWP in the semifinals. The next morning, the team came out strong against the skilled Houston Hydra Chimera (a much stronger sister team to the club’s first game) and earned a win in a very close game that came down to the final minute 6-5. The win against Houston Chimera put NIWP into the national championship game against the highly regarded Viper Pigeon Pink (the 'A' team of the Viper Pigeon Club).

Scouting work had revealed the Vipers were not only regarded as the best team in the tournament but that they had also not lost a game the entire tournament. They had a number of excellent shooters who could both throw hard and also deliver accurate lobs over the top. VPP ran a modified M-drop defense where they identified players who weren’t strong shooters. They would then drop off those players to cover the hole.

They also used an early counter-attack option — sometimes leaving as early as with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. This puts pressure on the other team to immediately score or face an easy counter-attack by the Vipers. NIWP’s offensive strategy had Gianna Gonzalez covering most of their hole play with occasional support from Maren Hover, Simone Gonzalez and Addy Karoblis.

NIWP also positioned some of their strongest shooters (Maren Hover, Claire Thorpe, Greta Hover) on the wings (which is unusual but had been working well for the cub against teams that dropped defenders from the wings). Jillian Provost and Simone Gonzalez primarily covered the hole with the balance of the team (Lauren Watson, Ella Mohr, Laura Mohr, Addy Karoblis) running their piston/wedge defense (a partial drop defense to cover the hole).

One area NIWP found challenging throughout the tournament was exclusions — this gave the Viper Pigeons many opportunities (nearly 20 during the course of the game) to score on 6-on-5 plays. However, NIWP’s 6-5 defense was excellent with VPP shut out of nearly everything but weaker outside shots or inside passes which were knocked down by Idaho’s inside players while Alena Gonzalez did a fantastic job as goalie covering anything that got through.

The game was low scoring and very close for the first half as both teams struggled to score against excellent defenses. NIWP scored first with an early goal followed a few minutes later by a VPP goal. The teams traded goals in the first half with the halftime score being 4-4.

Jillian Provost took an unfortunate elbow to her chin late in the first half, causing her to leave the game, leaving NIWP down a player and more dependent on the rest of the team to cover the game. Simone Gonzalez had led off the scoring for NIWP and had three goals during the game (a personal best during JOs). Her sister Gianna Gonzalez led the team with four goals (including two penalty shots) while forcing VPP to focus several of their players on her, often leaving open other positions.

In the third quarter (which had been NIWP’s weakest quarter during the tournament) Gianna added a goal, increasing their lead to 5-4. During the final quarter break, the players encouraged each other to redouble their efforts and close out the game, including Simone Gonzalez’s frequent refrain "We got this!"

The encouragement appeared to work as VPP did not score a goal in the 2nd half while NIWP added three more goals, including a wicked corner shot from Claire Thorpe to bring the score to 8-4 with less than a minute left. VPP had one more possession which resulted in Alena recovering the ball for the win.

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Photo by KELLY LUNDY Ian McKenna, coach of the Sting Soccer Club 2016 Boys Black team, provides instruction at the 30th annual 2024 Northwest Cup tournament last weekend in Spokane. On Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, the Sting lost 4-2 to the Central Washington Sounders White Arroyo. Sting Black goals were scored by Jackson Martin. Saturday morning, Aug. 10, the Sting fell 11-2 to the Washington East Surf Soccer Club 2016/2017. Sting Black goals were scored by Jackson Martin. That afternoon, the the Sting Black beat the Spokane Sounders Shadow 2016 Basel Valley 6-2. against Spokane Sounders Shadow Basel Valley. Black goals were scored by Eli Hocking, Jackson Martin, Wesson Malmstadt, Oliver Lundy and Peter Ward. On Sunday, the Sting Black beat the Basin Sounders 2016 Lombardini 5-4. Black goals were scored by Kellen McLemore, Jackson Martin and Lincoln Triebwasser.

Photo by KATHY STERLING Playing up in the Gold Division, the Sting U9 Boys Yellow team opened its fall season last weekend at the 30th annual 2024 Northwest Cup tournament in Airway Heights at the Spokane Polo Fields. Friday evening the Sting lost 16-2 to the Spokane Sounders Shadow Spokane B2016. Sting goals were scored by Atlas Lepley (1) and Elijah Cline (1). Saturday afternoon the Sting fell 16-0 to the Three Rivers Soccer Club 3RSC B16 Inter Miami. Later that afternoon, the Sting was edged 5-4 by the Basin Sounders B2016 Lombardini. Sting goals were scored by Elijah Cline (2), Micah D’Alessandro (1) and Atlas Lepley (1). Sunday morning the Sting were downed 11-2 by B16 Charlotte FC. Both Sting goals were scored by Elijah Cline. Pictured from left to right in the black jerseys are Xander Rodrigues, Xavier Sousley and Micha D’Alessandro, and battling for the ball is Isaak Sterling and Atlas Lepley.

Courtesy photo The Coeur d'Alene Sting 2011 Girls soccer team took second at the Northwest Cup on Sunday at the Spokane Polo Fields in Airway Heights. On Aug. 8 the Sting won 3-1 over the Spokane Sounders G 2011 South. Elle Sousley, Brinlee Plumb and Kynleigh Rider each scored a goal. On Aug. 10 the Sting lost 2-0 against the Spokane Shadow G 2011. Later that day, the Sting won 3-1 against Spokane Sounders G 2011 Samba. Gracie McVay scored one goal, Elle Sousley scored 2 goals for the Sting. On Aug. 11 the Sting tied the Storm FC G 11/12 1-1. Elle Sousley scored the goal for the Sting. In the finals later that day, the Sting fell to the Spokane Sounders 3-0. In the front row from left are Giuliana Petrillo, Chloe Quinn, Gracie McVey, Kynleigh Rider, Hailey Vaud, Brinlee Plumb, Avery Thompson and Hannah Burkwist; and back row from left, coach Mark Plakorus, Harper Wing, Alex Keating, Evelyn Haycraft, Jillian Speelman, Elle Sousley, Eloise Roger and Kenzy Rix.

Photo by KARI HYNES The Sting Soccer Club 11 Girls Academy team competed last weekend in the 30th annual Northwest Cup at the Spokane Polo Fields in Airway Heights. The Sting started the tournament on Friday evening with a 4-0 victory over Spokane Sounders Shadow 11G GA team. Forwards Kylie Lorona and Presley Moreau each scored one goal, and midfielder Lila Moreau scored two goals on assists from her sister Presley Moreau. On Saturday the Thorns started their day with a 5-0 will against follow DPL team WE Surf SC Columbia Basin G11. Presley Moreau scored all five goals for the Sting, with teammates Constance Ovendale, Brightyn Gatten and Olivia Nusser providing assists on three of the goals. The Sting finished up its day with a 1-1 draw against Helena Youth Soccer G2011. Brightyn Gatten scored the Sting's lone goal. Sunday morning the Sting once again faced Helena Youth Soccer G2011, this time in the in the championship game, falling 3-0. Next up for the Sting will be the start of their DPL season with a home game against CWS G11 DPL Storm on Sept. 7. In the front row from left are Aubrey Sargent, Mackenzie Dolan, Olivia Hynes, Presley Moreau and Riley Greene; middle row from left, coach Mark Plakorius, Olivia Nusser, Ava Langer, Payton Brennan, Brightyn Gatten and Emily Hackett; and back row from left, Kendallyn Bowlby, Zoe Lemmon, Vivian Hartzell, Kylie Lorona, Constance Ovendale and Lila Moreau.