Vikings Bait Timberwolves

Prep soccer

Lake City High was done in by the legless, soft-bodied insect larva.

Coeur d’Alene’s Jake Peters, affectionately nicknamed “maggot” by his coach, scored both goals as the Vikings held on for an intense 2-1 North Idaho Soccer League victory over the host Timberwolves on Thursday.

“I call him the `maggot’ just because he’s kind of a little pest,” Vikings coach John Smith said. “He’s always pressuring the ball and the other team’s defense. He doesn’t score beautiful goals, but he doesn’t care how he scores.”

Peters, who said he doesn’t mind his unusual nickname, became a starter after the recent suspension of three of his teammates. He bagged his third and fourth goals of the season.

“I’m glad I had my chance and I just capitalized,” Peters said. “I’m trying to work as hard as I can. It feels awesome.”

Peters’ goals barely held up. LC (5-2-0 in league, 5-4-0 overall) put extreme pressure on the Vikings’ defense in the second half, particularly after Jeremy Fender’s header found the back of the net in the 70th minute.

LC stayed on the offensive, but couldn’t connect on the equalizer. In the final 10 minutes, Kevin Quinn had two headers sail over the crossbar and another header by Anthony Facciano drifted wide right.

“The guys played an excellent second half,” LC coach Jim Facciano said. “We outshot them and outhustled them a little. The first half we were kind of asleep. It’s kind of like we traded halves.”

CdA (5-1-1, 8-2-1) got the better half. Just 70 seconds into the first half, Ryan Crandall’s hand-spring throw-in bounced in front of LC’s goal. Peters booted the loose ball past keeper Seth Winters and CdA led 1-0.

“I saw it coming my way,” Peters said. “I didn’t know if I was off-side, but I just went for it.”

“We’ve got this bad luck of getting a goal scored on us early,” Facciano said. “Against Sandpoint last week we gave up a goal in the first 3 minutes.”

Peters struck again near the end of the half. He took a feed from Joe Baune and his sliding kick from about 15 yards nestled into the left corner of the net.

The first-half developments spurred CdA’s bench, where subs and suspended players vociferously showed their approval.

“Our suspended players are still part of the team and they don’t want to lose any more ground than we absolutely have to, or none at all,” Smith said.

CdA’s bench chatter drew objecting glances from LC’s sideline. Before the game, Facciano directed his reserves to zip their lips and focus on the field.

“I don’t like that myself; it is very obnoxious, though,” Facciano said, laughing. “So maybe it is something to think about.”

The rematch in a couple of weeks is definitely something both teams are thinking about.

“It’s always competitive,” Peters said. “Everybody’s going hard. There’s always a lot of smack talk.”

Said Facciano: “They’re a great rival and I have the utmost respect for their coaches and their program. We just need to play a little tougher, I guess, from the beginning.”

Girls soccer

Kristine Hale and Becca Storm scored twice apiece during Sandpoint’s 7-0 win at Colville in the Border League.

Chelsea Zenner’s goal late in the first half allowed visiting Moscow (8-2-1) to tie Coeur d’Alene at 1 in a non-leaguer. Tiffany Beck scored from 25 yards for CdA (10-0-2).