Lakeland overwhelms Pocatello in State 4A opener

BOISE – With 10 seniors returning from last year’s state finalist team, the Lakeland High School girls soccer team certainly didn’t need to rebuild, only reload, for the 2006 season.

In Thursday’s 5-0 victory over Pocatello in the first round of the 4A state tournament, freshman Marissa Watson turned out to be the most dangerous form of ammunition for Hawks coach Mario Maddy.

“In the third game of the season, we put her in and she scored two goals in 10 minutes,” Maddy said of the breakthrough moment for the ninth-grader.

She didn’t score quite that fast this time. But her two goals and two assists powered Lakeland (12-4-2) into today’s rematch with Century of Pocatello in an 11:15 a.m. PDT semifinal at the Capital Soccer Complex.

Century knocked off District III representative Skyview from Nampa 2-1. The Diamondbacks beat Lakeland 2-1 in overtime in the 2005 3A state title game.

In other first-round games, another District III team, Bishop Kelly of Boise, beat Wood River 3-0, and Hillcrest of Idaho Falls edged Emmett 3-2.

Maddy, in his 15th year as Lakeland coach, downplayed today’s rematch with Century, pointing out that both teams are different than the squads that met a year ago.

But, contrary to Maddy’s assertion, the team that devoured Pocatello (13-7-1) in the opening round had an awfully familiar look, beginning with senior forward Natalie Nichols, who had two goals and two assists.

The Hawks lived up to the reputation of their mascot, swooping in to win every loose ball, although the occasion of a contested pass was as scarce as a Pocatello shot on goal.

Lakeland’s players seemingly played with the soccer ball tethered to their cleats. Wherever a pass went, there was a Lakeland teammate to snatch it up as if the ball were placed on a rail to sneak through the maze of Pocatello defenders.

As a result, the Hawks effort seemed, well, effortless. They rarely broke a sweat and had the Indians seemingly running amok in a futile attempt to gain control.

“That’s our game. That’s the way we play,” Maddy said. “We want to play possession”

Lakeland’s girls showed off their power to possess by sprinting to loose balls, or in the case of junior midfielder Michelle McCullough, sprinting through Pocatello goalie Ashlee Thomsen to score the game’s first goal in the 14th minute. When Thomsen couldn’t cleanly smother a shot by Watson, McCullough drove in and kicked the ball free and into the net.

Watson scored her first goal with a bit of follow-up, too. A split second after smacking a header off the crossbar above Thomsen in the 33rd minute, Watson used her head again to volley the ball into the net and give Lakeland a 3-0 lead.