Special keepsake

In many ways, the Coeur d’Alene girls soccer team didn’t play its best game during Thursday’s opening round of the 5A state tournament.

“We didn’t play very well,” Vikings coach Tarragh Carr said. “For whatever reason, we were flat, and Timberline had us on our heels a bit.”

Luckily for Coeur d’Alene, Amanda Wemple is on their side. The junior goalkeeper kept the Vikings in the game with 14 saves, then made a huge stop in the deciding shootout to give Coeur d’Alene a dramatic 2-1 victory.

“Amanda was absolutely huge,” Carr said. “She made big saves all day long and kept us in the game.”

While Timberline controlled the tempo early, it was Coeur d’Alene that drew first blood when Taryne Ela finished a pass from Kaylee Nowoj for a 1-0 lead.

The Vikings wouldn’t stay in front for long. Timberline continued to put pressure on Wemple and the Coeur d’Alene defense, finally breaking through when Wolves captain Brittany Talik boomed a shot past Wemple to tie the game.

That would be the last goal scored in regulation, though both teams had golden opportunities to take the lead. Timberline had 13 shots on goal, but Wemple was up to the challenge, turning away several shots from point-blank range.

The Wolves appeared to take the lead late in the second half, but the go-ahead goal was waived off by an offside penalty.

The game remained tied at 1 through regulation and two overtimes, thanks largely to Wemple, who stopped two point-blank shots in the extra periods.

After 20 extra minutes failed to produce a winner, the game went to a shootout. Each team had five players attempt high-pressure penalty kicks, with the first three from each team easily beating Wemple and Timberline keeper Forrest Colavecchia.

On Timberline’s fourth attempt, Holly Miller tried to beat Wemple low, but Wemple got two hands on it for the first save of the shootout.

Courtney Walker and Malia Hendrix traded goals after Wemple’s save, leaving the score at 4-4 with one shooter to go.

That shooter was Coeur d’Alene’s Hayley Smith, who buried a shot into the top-right corner of the goal to give Coeur d’Alene the win.

“I knew I just had to stop one,” Wemple said of her game-winning save. “I knew if I stopped one, we would have a chance to win, and I just guessed right and got a hand on it. I’m so excited for our team right now. We wanted to play on Saturday, and now we’ll have a chance to do that.”

Coeur d’Alene plays Skyline in the semifinals this afternoon. Boise and Capital meet in the other semifinal.