Vikings move ahead

Coeur d’Alene, thanks in large part to the efforts of junior forward Sadie Simon, moved one step closer to defending its state title with a 2-1 victory over visiting Lewiston Thursday in the 5A Region I girls soccer tournament.

The win sets up a regional title match at home for the Vikings (13-4-1) Saturday at noon against Sandpoint (10-5-4), a 1-0 winner over Lake City Thursday.

The victory wasn’t easy.

The Vikings tallied first, in the 28th minute, when senior forward Kaylee Nowoj fought through a defender at the right side of the penalty box and got the ball to Simon, who touched the ball twice before firing 1-on-1 to the right of Bengals keeper Sammy Byers.

Simon was mostly responsible for the Vikings’ second score as well. In the 66th minute, she shot unassisted from the top of the box and Lewiston’s Madison Grabow’s attempt to block the shot with her leg redirected the ball past Byers, technically an own goal that made the score 2-0.

The Bengals made things interesting 9 minutes later when senior Janie Perez ran up on a ball that CdA keeper Amanda Wemple had come out of the goal to challenge.

Perez slid right leg first, chipping the ball over the keeper and into the goal just before sliding hard into Wemple.

Wemple lay in pain and the score stood at 2-1 as a match that saw the Vikings outshoot the Bengals 17-6 and essentially dominate suddenly became much tighter.

Lewiston, however, couldn’t mount any sort of a serious scoring threat the rest of the way, much to the relief of CdA coach Tarragh Carr.

“Two-nothing is the infamous score of death,” Carr said. “It’s just enough of a cushion that you think you’re winning and you’ve got it in hand, yet it’s not enough a cushion that you’re out of trouble.

“Three-nothing or one-nothing is kind of where you want to be. One-nothing, I’m always going to work hard; three-nothing, OK, now I have some play room.”

Simon, enjoying what Carr called “a coming-out party” this season, wasted no words when describing her game plan.

“I just go out hungry for goals,” Simon said, “and I try my hardest.”

First-year Lewiston coach Michelle Parson was upbeat.

“It was a great game, and, of course, it’s a loss, but I’m really proud of my girls for the way they played,” Parson said of her team, which finished its season at 6-8-1. “I told them to keep their heads up, because they played a great game.”

Wemple, who stayed on the field after the collision with Perez, said after the match she was fine and would again be in goal on Saturday.