PREP GIRLS SOCCER: Lake City bounces Coeur d'Alene, advances to state play-in match

COEUR d’ALENE — Sometimes, it’s better to get some bounces to go your way. 

The one in the 70th minute for Lake City turned the tide on Saturday afternoon. 

Lake City sophomore Ava Roberts took a deflection off a Coeur d’Alene player’s leg drilled a shot past Coeur d’Alene senior goalkeeper Macy Walters from just in front of the goal with 10 minutes remaining, providing the clinching goal as the Timberwolves beat the Vikings 3-1 in Game 2 of the 6A District 1 best-of-3 series at Viking Field, wrapping up the district title for the T-Wolves, who advance to a state play-in match next week. 

Lake City led 2-1 midway through the second half. As Coeur d’Alene was attempting to advance the ball, Roberts found herself 30 yards out with Walters. 

“It went through and I just keep going,” Roberts said. “It hit Macy and then I made a play on the ball.” 

“Ava did exactly what we talked about,” Lake City coach Matt Ruchti said. “I took her out and told her she’s going to get an opportunity if they go to playing three in the back. I told her to stay connected because you never know if the ball is going to come out on your foot, and sure enough, with a little bit of chaos, she’s standing there with it on her foot and she made a good play and put it in the back of the net.” 

Lake City (14-0-1), which won its 13th straight district championship, advances to face the sixth-place team from District 3 (Boise area) in a state play-in match next Saturday at Lewiston High at 1 p.m.

“We can use that,” Ruchti said of having a week to prepare for the next game. “We’ve got about four or five kids that are fighting colds and injuries. We had another kid come back for the first time all season in this game. It’s been a rollercoaster of a season with illness and injury, and we’re hoping we’ll be in a good spot by next Saturday against whoever we play and give them a game.” 

Coeur d’Alene finished 6-6-3.

Lake City beat Coeur d’Alene 2-1 on Wednesday at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex at Lake City High, with the match going to penalty kicks, 

“It’s super intense,” Coeur d’Alene coach Andy Vredenburg said. “Going down two is always tough to come back. I’m proud of the girls for sticking it out. When we went down 3-1, we kept fighting. I’m just proud of the girls.” 

Lake City beat Coeur d’Alene 1-0 on Sept. 16 at Coeur d’Alene High and 2-0 at home on Sept. 23 during the regular season. 

“It’s really challenging playing Coeur d’Alene,” Roberts said. “There’s a bit of an expectation when we’re playing them because of the past years. We’ve had a lot of injuries this year and we really stuck it out to get the win.” 

“This season has been a really tough, but good one for the girls,” Vredenburg said. “All the injuries and sickness they’ve battled through, I couldn’t be prouder of the heart they showed for never giving up.” 

First half — 1, LC, Olivia Smith (Riley Brazle), 30:00. Second half — 2, LC, Chloe Burkholder (Nell Hutchins), 41:00. 3, Cd’A, Katie Foster (unassisted), 49:00. 4, LC, Ava Roberts (unassisted), 70:00. 

Shots on goal — LC 12, Cd’A 7. 

Saves — LC, Savvy Spencer 6; Cd’A, Macy Walters 8. 

Moscow 5 

Lakeland 0 

MOSCOW — The fourth-seeded Hawks had their season come to an end with a loss to the top-seeded Bears in a 5A Region 1 semifinal match at the Moscow School District Community Playfields. 

Lakeland finished 6-7-3. 

Moscow (10-2-3) hosts Sandpoint in Tuesday’s championship match, with the loser advancing to a state play-in match against the District 4 runner-up next Saturday at McCall-Donnelly High. 

First half — 1, Mos, Addison Lassen (unassisted), 9:00. 2, Mos, Lassen (unassisted), 28:00. 3, Mos, Lassen (unassisted), 32:00. 4, Mos, Edie Summer (unassisted), 39:00. Second half — 5, Mos, unknown, 56:00. 

Shots on goal — not available. 

Saves — not available. 

Sandpoint 6

Lewiston 2

SANDPOINT — The Bulldogs (5-8-1) advanced to the championship match in the 5A Region 1 tournament with a win over the Bengals (8-7-1).

Further information was not available.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City sophomore forward Ava Roberts and Coeur d'Alene senior goalkeeper Macy Walters attempt to make a play on the ball in the second half of Game 2 of the 6A District 1 best-of-3 championship series at Viking Field on Saturday.