Lake City scores rare victory over Vikings

Firsts and lasts.

Playing for the first time on the school’s football field, Lake City scored a pair of goals in the last 2 minutes to earn a 3-1 Inland Empire League boys soccer victory over Coeur d’Alene Thursday.

Playing under the lights, Lake City (7-4-2, 5-3-1) avenged a 2-0 loss to Coeur d’Alene (7-3-4, 6-2-2). Lake City remains tied with Lewiston for third place. The second-place Vikings fell two games behind league-leading Sandpoint with the loss.

The Timberwolves’ Evan Palo’s goal in the final minute of the first half gave Lake City a 1-0 lead at intermission, and Brandon Wood’s goal in the 77th minute proved the game winner.

“This win gives us some momentum going into the last two weeks of the regular season,” first-year Lake City coach Chris Beadell said. “How much it helps remains to be seen come the start of the district playoffs.

“The important thing is that we’re finally healthy. And we’ve been about as unlucky as any team can be up to this point. I think we’ve hit the post or the crossbar 26 times already this season. I keep telling the kids that an inch or two lower or an inch or two either way and it’s a whole different season. We’ll be okay.”

The victory was the first victory over a Coeur d’Alene squad in longer than anyone on the game’s sideline could remember.

“It had to be at least six years since Lake City beat them,” Beadell said. “I think we may have tied them once or twice in that stretch, but we haven’t beaten them. They have a great tradition over there and they have a good team there.

“This is a big win for us. I know what this rivalry means to these two schools. I played two years at Coeur d’Alene and two years at Lake City myself. I’ve played in this game.”

Palo’s goal came off a popped feed from Cody Steel just before the end of the first half.

Coeur d’Alene’s Tyler Olmsted came out of goal to challenge for the ball, but the Lake City sophomore nudged the ball past the charging keeper for the score.

The Vikings’ Garret Lowell evened the match in the 65th minute, receiving the ball at midfield and dribbling through the Lake City defense to launch a left-footed shot past Scott Klein.

With 3 minutes left in the game Wood got off a clean shot from about 15 yards out on the left side of the Coeur d’Alene goal to give the Timberwolves the game winner and Palo added an insurance goal off a breakaway in the final minute to create the final score.

“Playing on the football field was a new experience for us.” Beadell said. “First of all, we’re not used to playing on a field with a crown on it so the ball rolls out of bounds. The other thing is that the field is only 55 yards wide. We’re used to playing on a field that’s 75 yards wide, so things got narrowed down quite a bit.”

In other IEL action, Dominic Schmidt scored a hat trick and Emerson Follett added two assists on corner kicks to lead Lewiston (5-5-2, 5-3-1) past visiting Lakeland 4-1. Mickey Webb struck first for the Hawks (2-12, 1-10). … Casey Schooley scored the only goal as Post Falls defeated host Moscow (3-7, 2-7) 1-0. Justin Johnson needed only one save to earn the shutout for the Trojans (7-6, 4-6).

Girls soccer

Natalie Nichols scored a hat trick in the first 16 minutes and finished with five goals for the match as Lakeland defeated Lewiston 7-1 in Inland Empire League play at Rathdrum. Kayla Stiegemeier scored the other two Lakeland goals and added three assists.

•Britney Winterbottom and Kelli Davis each scored shootout goals to give Pullman (8-1, 5-0) control of first place in the Great Northern League with a 1-0 victory over host Riverside. Kristen Johnson scored the lone goal for the Rams (5-3, 4-1).