LC slugs its way to state
Rain literally soaked the soccer field Wednesday when Coeur d’Alene and Lake City met for the 5A Region I boys championship.
Figuratively, it was blood and guts.
LC’s Timberwolves (11-4-2) came away with a physical 2-1 victory, the regional title and an automatic berth to the state tournament, Oct. 27-29 at the Capital Soccer Complex in Boise.
CdA (8-5-5) travels to Lewiston to take on Timberline, the District III fifth-place team, in a play-in match Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Timberline defeated Boise 2-1 on Wednesday, after a 5-3 shootout, to advance.
LC coach Chad Beadell described some of the mayhem witnessed by about 200 soggy-but-not-sorry-they-came fans.
“I got one guy, I shouldn’t have even put him back on the field, but he answered all the questions I asked him, so …” Beadell said of one of his shaken players. “After the game he was a little dizzy, so we have to make sure he’s all right.”
The Timberwolves drew first blood – figuratively – in the 37th minute when sophomore forward Evan Palo banged in the rebound of a shot by teammate Jake Williamson. The rain-slick ball squirted through the hands of Vikings goalkeeper Tyler Olmstead and Palo made no mistake from point-blank at the left end of the goalmouth.
LC got the eventual match-winning goal in the 58th minute on senior forward Cody Steele’s sliding, right-footed punch-in of a loose ball after a corner kick.
“It got deflected somehow and landed right in front of me, and I just tapped it in,” Steele said. “There’s not an easier goal, really.
“But it gave us the win and it feels really good to be going to state.”
The Vikings, however, were far from rolling over.
Senior forward Garret Lowell cut the lead in half 10 minutes later, taking the ball near left midfield, driving to the goal, shedding a pair of LC defenders and left-footing a low rocket past junior goalkeeper Scott Klein.
As the match passed the 80-minute mark into extra time, the Vikings had no less than three golden opportunities to tie it up. The nearest miss came when junior middie Carlos Lima found Lowell in front of the goal with a pass 6 minutes in. Lowell put a head on it – and for a fleeting moment it looked like the equalizer – but it bounced off the left post and rolled harmlessly out of bounds.
The length of the injury time, combined with the Vikings’ quality chances, left Beadell more than a bit miffed.
“Eight minutes of extra time is unbelievable in that game and that drives me crazy,” Beadell said.
The first-year coach also took time to acknowledge the Vikings’ effort.
“Coeur d’Alene played their hearts out and we just put our chances away, even though we had a few chances we didn’t put away,” Beadell said. “Finally the ball hit the pole for someone else and didn’t go in, because we’ve had that all year.
“Midway through the season, I was keeping track, and we had hit the pole like 36 times – I was getting sick of it.”
CdA coach Eric Louis, whose teams have dominated LC in recent years, found some positives, even in defeat.
“It seems like every time they beat us, somebody takes team pictures,” Louis said. “We must be pretty tough to beat.”
He also lamented what he viewed as some questionable officiating.
“It’s a strange call here, it’s a missed call there – the boys get frustrated and it’s hard to keep their heads in the game,” Louis said. “They scored on a kick that I don’t think should have been possessed by them, but that’s the way it goes. It’s soccer.”
But how did Louis really feel?
“I thought we outplayed them and we outpossessed them, but they outshot us, I suspect,” Louis said. (LC did, 10-9.)
“Geez, we hit a pipe in the last few minutes, we just missed (a shot over the crossbar) and we got fouled when my guy got creamed after a mishandled ball by the keeper.
“We had plenty of scoring opportunities that just didn’t turn into goals.”
Looking forward, he gave his team a clear mandate.
“I told them we win on Saturday, go down and we play the state championship game versus Lake City and we beat ‘em there,” said Louis, adding that he is proud of the strides that Beadell and the Timberwolves have made. “Because that’s when it counts.”