Sandpoint girls, CdA boys win

Corner kicks and headers were crucial in the 5A Region I boys and girls soccer tournament title matches Saturday afternoon.

The Sandpoint girls avenged two regular-season losses to Coeur d’Alene, knocking off defending the state champ 1-0, while the Coeur d’Alene boys remained unbeaten with a 2-1 win over Lake City in finals under sun-kissed skies at CdA.

All four teams had already secured trips to state, but winners earned the best of the available seeds.

The teams also will stay close to home for state – some closer than others. The boys tourney is at Lake City High and the girls tourney is at Post Falls High. State begins a three-day run Thursday.

In the girls, Sandpoint (11-5-4) takes on District III fourth-place qualifier Mountain View (6-11-0) at 11 a.m. and CdA (13-5-1) goes against District III runner-up Boise (12-2-3) at 2 p.m. in a rematch of the 2006 title match.

In the boys, CdA (15-0-3) faces Timberline (10-6-3), the District III fourth-place qualifier, at 11 and LC (9-7-1) meets Boise (15-3-0), the District III runner-up, at 2.

Girls

A pair of Brittanys hooked up on a textbook play for the game-deciding goal.

Brittany Clawson crisply booted the ball in front of the goal and Brittany Oakley headed it in from 4 yards out 16 minutes into the match.

It’s a play the Bulldogs in general and the Brittanys specifically have spent time practicing this week.

“We’ve been practicing those a lot,” Clawson said. “We’ve been pretty dangerous on our corners.”

What impressed Sandpoint coach Adam Tajan was the certainty in which Oakley put the ball in the net.

“We took the last two or three practices and just kind of fine-tuned every little run (at the goal) that every person needs to make and where Brittany Clawson’s options would be,” Tajan said. “Boy, if Oakley didn’t get everything on that ball. That rang the back of the net with authority. You don’t see that in the girls game all that often – not with the kind of power that had behind it.”

Sandpoint made several attacks, forcing CdA goalkeeper Amanda Wemple to make sliding save after sliding save.

The Bulldogs’ defense clamped down on the Vikings’ shooters, especially Sadie Simon.

Clawson said the regional title is evidence of how hard the Bulldogs have worked.

“This No. 1 seed (to state) is just showing how we could step up,” Clawson said.

“We talked about what we’d done wrong in the (previous matches against CdA). We proved we could beat them, but we let down (at times).”

Tajan said his team played perhaps its worst match of the year in the first loss to CdA (2-0). But the Bulldogs were the aggressors in the most important match.

“We played with a lot more depth in the back,” Tajan said of one of the keys. “Simon likes to run down through balls. With all the speed she’s got, if you don’t play with depth and that through ball does get where it’s supposed to go she’ll end up 1-on-1 with your keeper. They did a great job shutting that down.”

Boys

Vikings senior midfielder Robby Astin watched video during the morning of the last regular-season match against LC. He was trying to see if he could find holes where he could slip through the T-Wolves’ defense.

Apparently he did. Astin scored both goals, including a header for the game winner off a bending corner kick from Jordan Correia in the 60th minute.

“We’ve been practicing corners a lot lately and I knew exactly where Correia was going to go with it,” Astin said. “I just tried to go the spot he normally hits and it went right to me.”

Astin’s first goal came with 10 minutes left in the first half. He took a pass from Forrest Walker and drilled a shot from the top of the box just past diving goalie Nick Higgs into the lower-right corner.

Four minutes into the second half, LC’s Jimmy Williamson found a crease between CdA defenders and was looking at a 1-on-1 opportunity against Vikings goalie Marc Hilbert. But Williamson was fouled, giving the T-Wolves a penalty kick that Tyler Powers knocked past Hilbert.

Astin didn’t leave any doubt for the Vikings shortly thereafter as he headed the ball past Higgs and Matt Burns, who was guarding the far post.

“He’s been an impact guy throughout (his career),” CdA coach Eric Louis said. “I’ve said it before, he’s the smartest guy I’ve ever coached.”

Louis thought the Vikings won the game with solid defense and possession by the midfielders.

“Good off-the-ball work today,” Louis said. “You can sometimes get caught watching the ball and you miss something that’s going on away from the ball. We did a really good job of closing down opportunities for their passes and I think we outworked them on loose balls. We played the physical game in the air … and they didn’t get a lot of quality shooting opportunities. That’s an indication of how hard we’re working before the shots.”