In a sport like baseball, numbers pretty much tell the story - with a few exceptions, you are what your batting average is, or what your ERA is.

Soccer, however, is nowhere near that stat-crazy.

Sure, there are stats for goals and assists, and keeper saves. But how do you measure linking the ball from the back to the forwards who end up doing the scoring? There's no stat for slide tackles that broke up scoring chances, opponents' rushes stopped by defenders, and midfielders successfully feeding the ball up ahead to set up scores.

So, imagine the difficulty trying to select an Athlete of the Week from the Coeur d'Alene Sting under-18 girls soccer team, after its stellar performance last week at the US Youth Soccer Far West Regionals in Boise. The Sting won its pool - only the second Sting squad to accomplish that - and advanced to the quarterfinals before bowing out.

GIVEN A choice, the team voted to honor goalkeeper Tiegan Horton. But, as Sting U18 coach Dan Hogan said, any of a number of players were worthy.

"Tiegan Horton had some extraordinary saves in every game," said Hogan, who in the fall coaches the North Idaho College women's soccer team. "Josee Bassett (center back) played our last two games with a cracked rib, Bekah Brendis helped shut down the two leading scorers in the U18 tournament (Brooke Ligtenberg of the So Cal Blues, who is headed to Cal State Fullerton; and Averie Collins of La Roca FC of Layton Utah, who is bound for Stanford), Meg Lowery and Maggie Vietri each with two goals, putting them tied for fourth among leading scorers for U18. Kelsi Grinde, Magen Daniels, Carleen Simpson, Kenna Frantzich, who came off the bench to give others much needed rest and didn't let our energy or intensity drop.

"I could name several others, but the key point is I don't think we would have been as successful without the contributions of each and every one of our players," Hogan added.

"The teams we played finished first or second in their respective State Cups or regional league. I think if you were to ask any coach at the tournament where they would have expected us to finish in our group and they would have said 'the Sting wouldn't win a game.' We gave up only two goals in three games of group play and unfortunately in the quarterfinal we ran into a 'train'."

That train would be La Roca FC, which scored three first-half goals and beat the Sting 4-0. La Roca went on to beat Eastside FC Red 96 of Washington 4-1 in the semifinals. In the finals La Roca beat Rio Rapids SC 97 of New Mexico, whom they had lost to 3-0 in group play, 3-2 to advance to nationals July 21-26 in Tulsa, Okla.

AFTER YEARS in 1A Division I, Lakeside High of Plummer-Worley moved down a level for the 2014-15 school year, to 1A Division II.

But unless the Knights can do some convincing this fall, they will end up back in 1A Division I for the next two-year classification cycle, which starts in fall 2016.

The Idaho High School Activities Association uses a pair of enrollment numbers from this past school year, one taken Nov. 1 and the other on April 27, to determine classification for the upcoming two-year cycle.

Lakeside's average for the two enrollment dates was 108. Currently, Division II is 99 students and below, and Division I is between 100 and 159 students.

Wallace's average total for the two dates was 161, which would put them just into 2A, which is for 160 to 319 students.

There is a proposal to adjust the enrollment numbers slightly, which would lower the cutoff point between Division II and I to around 90. The proposal will be discussed at the IHSAA's August board meeting, and could be voted on as early as September, IHSAA executive director Ty Jones said.

Either way, Lakeside would likely petition down to remain in 1A Division II, athletic director Ron Miller said.

"We ended the year at 101 kids," Miller said. "I know if we're close, we will try to petition to stay in 1A Division II. It doesn't do us any good to play up (in Division I); in most of those sports, we were not competitive. We'll look at our fall enrollment, and if we can show we're trending downward ... "

Wallace, one of the largest 1A Division I schools, and the only one in that division in District 1, is caught in the middle. Some of the Division II teams in the North Star League won't play Wallace in football, athletic director Bruce Bailey said.

Right now, Wallace is essentially a team without a league. It plays as a 1A Division I independent, then joins in with the District 2 teams for postseason play.

One big difference is in football. 1A teams play 8-man, and 2A teams play 11-man. Depending on the year, Wallace could have a turnout of as little as 14, making fielding an 11-man team a little difficult.

Any petitions will be listened to at the September board meeting, Jones said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.