Sandpoint wins IEL crown

Usually, a quick goal sparks the Sandpoint High boys soccer team. Tuesday, the fast start seemed to do the opposite.

It took a second goal late in the match for Sandpoint to finally feel secure as the Bulldogs captured their eighth consecutive Inland Empire League championship, shutting out Coeur d’Alene 2-0 at CdA.

Senior midfielder Brandon Eddy sneaked through the Vikings’ defense – CdA coaches and players claimed he was offside – just 30 seconds into the match to direct a pass from Luke Schramm just past goalie Tyler Olmsted from 4 yards out.

About 76 minutes later, Eddy sent a crossing pass to freshman Spencer Swerin, who headed it in to secure the championship.

Sandpoint improved to 13-1-2 overall and remained unbeaten in league at 9-0-2. The Bulldogs conclude the regular season with a match at Lewiston on Thursday.

CdA (8-5-2, 6-4-1) slipped into third as Lake City (7-3-1) leapfrogged into second with a 4-0 win over Lakeland. CdA and LC are vying for the top seed to the 5A Region I tournament. The second-seeded team plays host to No. 3 Lewiston in a loser-out regional opener Monday.

LC concludes with a match at Post Falls on Thursday while CdA travels to Moscow on Saturday.

Perhaps the match Tuesday began too fast for Sandpoint.

“It seems like when we get quick goals we tend to do better,” Eddy said. “But I think in that game we didn’t. In the first half we needed to calm down a little bit. We were over committing too much. I think it was because we were playing Coeur d’Alene. They’re our rivals and we wanted to beat them real bad.”

Whatever happened, the Bulldogs found themselves in a funk that took quite a while to overcome. In fact, Sandpoint coach Randy Thoreson thought his team never got untracked.

“I thought they were more the aggressor the whole game,” Thoreson said of the Vikings. “Generally, we don’t dribble as much and play more one- and two-touch soccer which avoids a lot of the pitfalls we ran into today.

“We didn’t play very well. They (the Vikings) were very inspired. There’s some stuff we need to fix, and we’re going to go back to the drawing board and find out what we need to do to make that not happen again because that’s ridiculous.”

Although his team lost, CdA coach Eric Louis felt his team took some positive strides.

“We did everything right but put it in the net,” Louis said. “We played well enough to beat Sandpoint. That’s what we needed to do. We kept composure. We played 85 minutes (with injury time) of solid soccer. It’s the best we’ve played in the last four or five outings.”

But the Vikings didn’t get many good looks at the goal. For that, Sandpoint’s defenders – Gunnar Paulsen, Kyle Van Dyk, Tanner Welch and Schramm – must receive most of the credit. Senior goalie Seth Baker constantly communicated with them, directing traffic.

“They’re the best back four (and goalie) in the league,” Eddy said. “They’re aggressive and they’re fit. They communicate well.”

Said Thoreson: “They had to work too hard. They had to mark more than they should. We ended up playing too much soccer in our defensive third and that’s not where we want to play.”

CdA’s defense also played well. The Vikings packed many bodies around the perimeter of the penalty box, making it difficult for Sandpoint to make any runs at the goal.

In other IEL action, Lake City forward Cody Steele scored twice in the second half to preserve a 4-0 victory over Lakeland (2-13, 1-11) in Rathdrum. Scott Klein stopped three shots to earn the shutout for the Timberwolves (9-4-2, 7-3-1). … Sam Johnson scored a hat trick, including two goals in the final 13 minutes, as Moscow (3-8-1, 2-8-1) tied visiting Lewiston 3-3. Andy Perez scored once and Dominic Schmidt twice in a 4-minute span to give the Bengals (5-6-3, 5-4-2) a 3-1 lead in the first half.

Girls soccer

Becca Stone scored in the first half and Tori Smith added an insurance goal in the second to give Sandpoint the Inland Empire League lead with a 2-0 victory over visiting Coeur d’Alene (12-3-1, 8-2-1). Sarah Krabacher had seven saves to earn the shutout for the Bulldogs (9-4-4, 8-1-2) and added an assist with a free kick to set up Stone’s goal in the 27th minute. … Natalie Nichols scored in the fourth minute and assisted Kayla Steigemeier‘s goal in the 69th minute to give Lakeland a 2-0 victory at Lake City. Amanda North had 15 saves to earn the shutout for the Hawks (11-4-1, 8-3-1), who were outshot 15-2 by the Timberwolves (7-7-3, 3-6-2). … Bethany Harmon scored twice in the final 10 minutes to lead Moscow to a 2-0 victory at Lewiston (3-10-2, 0-10-1). Sara Quinn earned the shutout for the Bears (6-6-1, 5-5-1) with three saves.

•Callie Paul and Ashley Hayes scored in the shootout as Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) defeated host Riverside 2-1 in Great Northern League play. Moriah Beeler put the Eagles (5-6, 4-3) ahead on a free kick in the 51st minute, then Randi Hollen answered for the Rams (6-4, 5-2) with a free kick in the 70th. … Anika and Maja Willoughby scored in the first half and Janelle Rainer hit the winning goal in the 68th minute to lead Colville to a 4-2 win over host Chewelah. Carly Gauche also scored for Colville (4-5, 2-5), while Ashley King had 17 saves for the Cougars (1-9, 0-7). … An own goal in the fifth minute proved to be the winning goal, but four more Pullman players scored in a 5-0 win at Medical Lake. Cory Druffel, Sami Johnson, Anna Albrecht and Kendra Heim scored for the Greyhounds (10-1), whose defense allowed only two shots by the Cardinals (4-6, 3-4).

Volleyball

Danielle Johnson led Lakeland with 11 kills and 13 digs in a sweep of host Sandpoint (2-9) in Inland Empire League play. Scarlett Pruitt added 21 assists for the Hawks (6-5), who clinched the second seed in Saturday’s 4A Region I tournament. … Meredith Dolny had 15 kills and 12 digs as Moscow (11-0) remained undefeated with a sweep of visiting Lake City (7-4). Maddie Dolny added 28 assists for the Bears. … Jackie Lenz had 43 digs and Heather Helmhout had five aces to lead Coeur d’Alene to a 3-1 victory over visiting Post Falls (4-8) on senior night. Junior Katy Rossner added six blocks for the Vikings (7-4).

•Katie Poston had eight kills and Jennifer Youngwirth added 17 assists as Bonners Ferry (4-3) defeated host Priest River (2-5) in a 3-1 Intermountain League match. Poston also had five blocks for the Badgers. … Corina Beyer had nine of Timberlake’s 23 aces in a sweep of Kellogg (2-5) in Spirit Lake. Beyer also led the Tigers (3-5) with 10 kills and seven assists.

•Tia Becker had 10 aces and nine assists to lead Clark Fork to a 3-1 victory over visiting Mullan (1-10) in a North Star League match. Tiffany Van Buren added 37 digs and eight kills for the Wampus Cats (7-5). … Davi Swan had 13 kills and Cheyenne Meshell used a seven-point service run in the second game to fuel Lakeside (5-6) to a sweep of Post Falls Christian (3-8) in Plummer.

•Caitlin McGrane had 18 kills, 15 digs and five aces – two of which led a key seven-point run in the decisive fifth game – as Colville defeated visiting Riverside 22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 24-26, 15-12 in a Great Northern League match. Jordan Emmil added 41 assists for the Indians (5-3), while Kayla Newberg led the Rams (3-4) with 28 kills and four blocks. … Kelli Tikker had 14 kills, three aces and six digs to lead Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) to a 3-1 victory over visiting Chewelah (4-4). Lindsay Jelke added 31 assists for the Eagles (6-1). … Ashley Cox served 15 points in the first game and dished out 32 assists as first-place Pullman (7-0) swept last-place host Deer Park (0-8).