Vikings blanked in semis
Mountain View goalie Brian Sturm and his defenders erected an impenetrable wall in front of the goal Friday afternoon.
Try and try as Coeur d’Alene did, the Vikings couldn’t crack through as defending state champ Mountain View prevailed 2-0 in a State 5A boys soccer tournament match at Lake City High School.
In a loser-out match, Lake City came up empty on the offensive end for a second straight day as Centennial shut out the Timberwolves 1-0.
In other games, Boise defeated Idaho Falls 3-1 and Timberline edged Madison 2-1.
Today, Mountain View (15-2-2) plays Boise (17-3-0) for the championship at 2 p.m., Coeur d’Alene (16-1-3) and Idaho Falls play for third place at 11 a.m. and Timberline (11-7-3) faces Centennial (16-4-1) in the consolation final at 11 a.m.
Mountain View 2, CdA 0: Mavericks coach Rick Latham honors the top player in each match and there was no question whom he’d pick.
“We always do a ‘man of the match’ and he is definitely the man of the match,” Latham said of Sturm. “He came up big when we needed him. To tell you the truth, he’s been doing that all season.”
Sturm had eight saves, five coming in the final 40 minutes when the Vikings were furiously attacking. CdA’s Robby Astin fired two shots with authority that Sturm somehow cradled in his belly. On another shot by Astin, the Mavericks’ keeper made a fist save, deflecting the ball over the crossbar.
“I honestly thought one of the shots was going to go (in),” Latham said. “That’s what makes him him. He’s smarter than me and he got the tip that hit the bar and saved our bacon.”
The Mavs had some breathing room after a seemingly innocent, soft kick by Zach Richardson glanced off a CdA defender and squirted into the net in the 13th minute.
The goal stood until late when Nick Sykes, the Mavs’ standout forward, got his 22nd goal of the season. He steadied himself after letting a long pass bounce and moved around a defender before deftly lifting the ball over CdA goalie Marc Hilbert’s head as he tried to come out and challenge. The score in the 72nd minute came as the Vikings were pushing forward seeking a tying goal.
Astin thought he should have put at least one of his shots in the net.
“Mountain View is a very good team, but I think we beat ourselves today,” Astin said. “I had three opportunities that I should have scored on. I just couldn’t stay composed in front of the goal. You’ve got to give it to them, but we both played hard.”
It was difficult for CdA coach Eric Louis to wade through the emotions afterward.
“I think we’re just sort of shell-shocked right now,” Louis said. “This was certainly a winnable game. Strange things happen in winnable games. It was exciting for sure, but disappointing. We played very well. The chances we had didn’t come to fruition.”
CdA will face a team it’s familiar with when it meets Idaho Falls today for third place. The Vikings beat the Tigers 3-0 in a match Aug. 24 at IF.
Centennial 1, LC 0: The Timberwolves were outmatched at most positions.
The Patriots’ Jordan Huber, who was unmarked in front of the goal mouth, headed in a pass from Emmett Demirelli that scraped the inside of the far post just 3 minutes into the match.
Centennial had several other opportunities that either hit the crossbar or were knocked away by a strong crossing wind. The Patriots had 16 shots to LC’s four. The other big factor that shut down the Patriots’ offense, though, was LC goalie Nick Higgs. He had 13 saves after turning back 17 the day before.
“We ran out of steam,” said LC coach Chad Beadell, who loses just three seniors and returns the core of his team next year. “My backs (defenders) were beat today. Chris (Wheeler) and Josh (Gordon) were pretty sore and Matt (Burns) came out late with cramps in his calves. They played hard (Thursday) and we played hard today. We had a few opportunities, but we couldn’t put back one in.”