Idaho 5A girls: Vikings capture third place

Coeur d’Alene’s goal this season was to earn some hardware at the 5A girls state soccer tournament.

Though it wasn’t a second consecutive first-place trophy, you wouldn’t know it from the smiles on the Vikings’ faces Saturday at Post Falls High School after they took third place with a 3-1 victory over Mountain View of Boise.

Also on the day, Timberline, which knocked off Coeur d’Alene on Friday, got a lone goal from junior Carlee Norquist and then held on to win the state championship 1-0 over Eagle. Sandpoint, in its first state appearance at the 5A level, made another fine showing, but came up short in a 2-1 loss to Boise in the consolation game.

CdA, which finished 15-6-1, got on the board in the fifth minute when junior Sarah Bjorn curled a beautiful cross past Mountain View keeper Alyssa Howell and sophomore Meghan Roletto promptly headed it into the open right side of the net.

The Vikings went up 2-0 in the 55th minute when sophomore Hayley Smith took advantage of a weak clearing attempt near the opposing goal, taking a pass from junior Sadie Simon and right-footing it past a helpless Howell.

After a Coeur d’Alene own goal 7 minutes later made things a little more interesting than the blue-and-white faithful would have liked, the Vikings slammed the door in the 78th minute when Simon scored unassisted on a loose ball after a corner kick.

“Oh, my gosh, it feels so great.” Simon said amid the postgame celebration. … “There was a little disappointment after the game (Friday), of course … but “Coach T” really wanted us to be respected – not necessarily feared, but at least have the Boise teams’ respect. … And I think we did that this year.”

“Coach T,” Tarragh Carr, said she couldn’t be prouder of her team’s showing.

“It was a great match and it was an excellent way to go out,” Carr said. “I think we are very deserving of the hardware we received today. It comes down to what you have in your heart to push you through the pain, to push you through the fatigue, to push you through all of the tough battles that you’ve had to overcome. … At one point, you just have to push them aside and deal with what’s in front of you right now, and today that was Mountain View.”

Sandpoint, which ended the year 12-7-4, cut a 2-0 Boise lead in half when sophomore Shaina Gustafson scored unassisted in the 73rd minute, but the Bulldogs were unable to score again before the final whistle sounded.

“I told the girls it’s been a great season, our first round in 5A,” said Sandpoint coach Adam Tajan. “Even though we didn’t do as well at the tournament as we would have hoped, we showed up for league and I think we made a statement. We’re young and we’re going to be around a while.”