Lake City earns No. 2 seed
A tie wasn’t going to hurt the Lake City High girls soccer team Thursday in its quest to secure the best seeding available for the regional tournament.
But LC coach Matt Ruchti reminded his team during halftime of a scoreless tie with Inland Empire League champ Coeur d’Alene what a victory meant.
The Timberwolves secured the No. 2 seed in the 5A Region I tournament when senior forward Ciara Kremer scored with 4 minutes remaining as LC held off the defending state champion Vikings 1-0 at CdA.
LC (10-2-3 overall, 7-2-2 league) will play host to third-seeded Sandpoint (9-5-4, 7-2-3) on Thursday. The winner earns a state berth, the loser is done.
CdA (12-4-1, 10-2-0) also will play Thursday for a state berth. The Vikings will face either No. 5 Post Falls (2-10-3, 1-9-2) or No. 4 Lewiston (6-7-1, 4-7-1). Those teams play Tuesday at Lewiston. Thursday’s winners play for the regional title Oct. 13 at the site of the highest seed to determine seeding to state, which will be held Oct. 18-20 at Post Falls High School.
LC needed a combination of a win or two ties in its final two matches to lock up the second seed.
“We wanted to get it taken care of,” Ruchti said of securing the No. 2 seed. “We needed three points in two games. We talked about it at the beginning of the game and we said we’re going to get three points today. At halftime (when) it was 0-0, we talked about winning this game 1-0 and we did.”
Both teams had several opportunities to score before the match reached the latter stages. Finally, Kremer took a pass from senior midfielder Emma Hawn and chipped a shot past CdA senior goalkeeper Amanda Wemple from 6 yards out into the right corner of the net.
“The young players allow the seniors to be successful – which is an interesting dynamic,” Ruchti said. “The seniors are good. There are only three of them, but they battle. The younger players – and we’ve got a lot of them – just keep hanging in there and they just let (the seniors) do it.”
Both goalies played well. LC junior Shannon Fraser had 10 saves split evenly over both halves.
LC, behind four goals from Kremer, topped CdA 4-2 on Sept. 18. In that match, the Vikings allowed Kremer to dribble for long distances and get behind the defenders. CdA did a much better job defending her this time.
“When they want to play they can play,” Ruchti said of LC.
CdA finished with more shots (13-9), but the Vikings couldn’t capitalize.
“It comes down to that – finish your chances,” CdA coach Tarragh Carr said. “I was happier with the way my back line played today. But as a team we were impatient.”
“In other IEL action: Kerry Moller scored in the first half and Laura Kleffner added a second-half goal to lead the Moscow Bears (5-6-3, 3-5-3) to a 2-1 victory over the Trojans in Post Falls. Heidi Muller put Post Falls on the scoreboard with a goal in the 69th minute. … Marisa Watson scored two second-half goals, both off assists from Jaymian Stuermer, to help the host Lakeland Hawks (2-12-3, 1-8-3) preserve a 2-2 tie with the Lewiston Bengals in Rathdrum. Ember Gillespie and Jamie Gates each scored in the first half to give Lewiston a 2-0 lead.