Astin’s PK goal sends CdA to state

Kristi Astin can’t make a penalty kick in practice. But get her in a match and it’s a different story.

The Coeur d’Alene High senior drilled a penalty kick with 15 minutes remaining Wednesday afternoon, sealing the Vikings’ 2-1 win over Lake City in a 5A Region I girls soccer tournament finale at CdA.

First-year CdA coach Tarragh Carr selected Astin to take the kick after an LC player pushed a Vikings player in the back during a scrum near the goal. Whether the incident had anything to do with the action was questionable, as far as LC was concerned. Carr said there was no doubt her player was pushed, but she didn’t know if it had anything to do with the play.

The Vikings (8-7-2 overall) advance to state, which will be held Oct. 28-30 in Boise. LC (4-10-3) can earn a state berth in a play-in match Saturday at Lewiston. The Timberwolves will take on the District III (Boise-area) fifth-place team.

Top-seeded CdA went into the title match heavily favored. The Viks beat LC decisively (4-0) in their second league match after the teams played to a 1-all tie earlier.

After a scoreless first half, LC seized the momentum five minutes into the second half when Ciara Kremer headed in a corner kick from 3 yards out. Lizzy Fraser’s corner boot curled nicely toward Kremer.

CdA pulled even six minutes later when Courtney Walker broke through LC’s defense and got past goalie Nicole Powers, who overcommitted. Walker kicked the ball left footed past a pair of LC defenders who were scrambling to cover an empty goal.

“She just kept banging and banging and banging for the ball and just broke them down,” Carr said of Walker’s charge. “And she was able to slot it through back post. It was a great goal. It was her (against) three of them. She just kept fighting.”

Any momentum LC had disappeared four minutes later when Astin made the penalty kick.

“She can’t hit a (penalty kick) in practice, but in the games she hasn’t really missed,” Carr said. “If she scores one in practice we’ll get worried and we probably won’t pick her for the game. She has great composure. She’s been in that type of a role her entire career.”

LC coach Matt Ruchti was obviously upset that the penalty kick provided the difference. But he also bemoaned missed opportunities, saying his team shouldn’t have been in a position to allow a penalty kick to decide the match.

“The bottom line is we out-worked them,” Ruchti said. “We finish the opportunities we had in the first half and we go out of here (winning) 5-2. But you’ve got to put good teams away and Coeur d’Alene is a good team. Otherwise, you let them stick around and they’re going to capitalize. We gave them some hope and they came back and capitalized.”

Astin’s goal was her third in as many tries on penalty kicks.

“I was just praying that I would get it in,” said Astin, who started as a freshman on the last CdA team to qualify for state.

Astin was asked to explain her strategy when she takes penalty kicks.

“It’s kind of a secret,” Astin said. “It’s one of those things where I get a feeling where I should shoot it. You get the feeling and you know where it’s supposed to be, so you put it there.”

Carr praised LC for making measurable improvement from the start of the season.

“To take a young team from where they were at the beginning of the year to where they are now makes winning this a little bit better,” Carr said.

“At Sandpoint, the host Bulldogs captured the 4A Region I title with a 5-2 win over Moscow. Sandpoint (15-2-5) advances to state, which will be held Oct. 28-30 in Boise. Moscow (12-5-1) can earn a state berth in a play-in match Saturday at Lewiston. The Bulldogs struck early. Kylie France knocked in a header in the second minute and Tori Smith provided what would prove to be the game-winning goal 31 minutes later, with a boot from 45 yards out.