Lake City shuts out Lewiston in loser-out game
Lake City got all the scoring it would need in the first minute Wednesday in a 3-0 victory over Lewiston in the loser-out round of the 5A Region I boys soccer tournament.
The Timberwolves, who play host to the state tournament Oct. 18-20, earned an automatic berth and set up a Saturday date with Coeur d’Alene for the regional title and critical seeding for state. Game time is 2 p.m. at CHS.
Saturday’s winner draws the No. 4 seed from the Boise area while the loser gets that region’s No. 2 seed.
Junior defenseman Nick Lenihan’s perfect cross from the right corner found senior forward Evan Palo just inside the far post and Palo made no mistake, heading it past Bengals keeper Cody Arrasmith just 55 seconds into the match.
LC (9-6-1) outshot the Bengals 19-2 and had numerous near-misses before Lenihan scored on a free-kick assist from Kurt Meyer in the 60th minute and Michael Leptich tallied unassisted in the 68th.
T-Wolves coach Chad Beadell complimented Lewiston.
“Lewiston played us tough,” Beadell said. “We obviously got to them early with Nick and Evan Palo, and then we hit the crossbar I don’t even know how many times – and I was getting a headache from it.
“We just kept on battling and battling, and those things can get frustrating – hitting the crossbar and Cody making great saves.”
He also said his team knows full well what it can expect Saturday.
“We tied them, and then we played them tough over here until the last 20 minutes, and we just didn’t finish the game out,” Beadell said. “It left a bad taste in our mouths.”
Lewiston, thanks in large part to the outstanding play of Arrasmith in goal, had a chance to tie it up moments into the second half when senior standout Andrew Perez fired just high from the left point.
“This team came a long way this season, I’ll say that about them,” said coach Jeff Maucione, whose Bengals finished the season 3-11-1. “We went nine games winless, without even scoring, and in the last six games we scored 17 goals – we just couldn’t put any of them in today.
“We went from the bottom of the barrel to being competitive with all of … them.”