STATE 6A BOYS SOCCER: Waking up too late ... Slow start dooms Lake City in opener

By JASON ELLIOTT 

Sports writer 

COEUR d’ALENE — It wasn’t the start the third-seeded Lake City Timberwolves wanted, or could have planned. 

Missed opportunities. 

Injuries. 

And a setback as a result. 

Senior Kai Delio scored in the 48th minute to pull Lake City within one goal, but the Timberwolves were unable to push across the equalizer late, falling 2-1 to sixth-seeded Owyhee of Meridian 2-1 in the opening round of the state 6A boys soccer tournament on the artificial turf at Viking Field on Thursday. 

“It is what it is,” first-year Lake City coach Chaz Donovan said. “The boys learned a valuable lesson for tomorrow that you need to come out and play how we started in the second half. We battled, made it close, and the effort was there. We just came up short in the second half.” 

In a game that started at 9 a.m., Owyhee scored twice in the first 20 minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Lake City had three shots on goal in the final 10 minutes of the half, but was unable to get one into the net.

“It was little bit of first-game jitters,” Lake City senior midfielder Jacob Molina said. “We didn’t come out to battle in the first half, and they did. We started really slow and might have been scared playing against a Boise school that we’ve never played before. From going to playing northern teams to Boise schools is really different. And it just wasn’t there for us.” 

Lake City (11-2-2) faces seventh seed Mountain View (10-10-2) of Meridian in a loser-out match today at 9 a.m. at Viking Field. Owyhee (13-5-2) faces second seed Boise in a semifinal. Boise defeated Mountain View 4-0 in their opening round match.

Lake City had chances in the second half, but was turned away by Storm goalkeeper Corbin Gill, who finished with seven saves. 

“Going out at the half, we knew what we needed to do,” Molina said. “We had a lot of pressure on the ball and had a lot of good chances. If we start our next game how we ended this one, I think it will be a good one for us.” 

Lake City junior Lukas Ruchti had 13 saves, eight coming in the first half.
“Lukas played like he’d been here before,” Molina said. “Hopefully that gives him the confidence going forward to play at the high level. I’m very impressed with him for being a first-year varsity player and playing at such a high level.” 

It was the first appearance at state for Owyhee, which opened in 2021.

"I think our kids came out fired up,” Owyhee coach Darion Green said. “It was our first state game in program history, so we were excited to play and came out ready to win.” 

Owyhee was the fourth seed in the District 3 tournament, beating Eagle to advance to state. 

“We had three or four district games that really prepared us for this moment,” Green said. “We want to play in the semifinals, so we’ll be excited to go tomorrow. But at districts, playing those back-to-back games really helped us now.” 

“Lake City brought some intensity in the second half,” Green said. “They wanted to win it as bad as we did. They just played a bit harder and changed their formation a little. They were moving the ball a lot better. They just wanted to win just like us.” 

First half — 1, Owyhee, Wyatt Blackwood (Easton Estes), 29:00. 2, Owy, Graham Herzog (unassisted), 21:00. Second half — 3, LC, Kai Delio (unassisted), 48:00. 

Shots on goal — Owy 15, LC 8. 

Saves — Owy, Corbin Gill 7; LC, Lukas Ruchti 7. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City sophomore midfielder Oliver Soumis battles with Owyhee senior defender Brady Greenwald (21) during the second half of Thursday's state 6A opening round match at Viking Field.