Sandpoint 6, Lewiston 2

SANDPOINT — It's rare to accomplish an achievement that one-up's a hat trick, but that's exactly what Hope Barnes did during Sandpoint's 5A District 1-2 semifinal match held Saturday at War Memorial Field.

The senior striker scored four goals, three unanswered in the second half, and the No. 2 Lady Bulldogs defeated the No. 3 Lady Bengals by a four-goal margin to advance to the 5A District 1-2 Championship.

"I could tell that Hope wanted it this game," Sandpoint High head coach Alan Brinkmeier said. "She gives 80 minutes of effort every time, but you could tell by the way she was shooting and wanting the ball around the 18 that she definitely wanted to score. It was fun to see the result match the effort that she gives day in and day out."

To start off the game, Raelyn Olsen stretched her goal-scoring streak to three just two minutes in. Junior Vivian Haag sent a pass to Barnes, whose shot was saved by the opposing keeper and ended up at the feet of Olsen. Olsen, a sophomore, then scored off the rebound for her fifth goal in the last three games.

During the sixth minute, senior Mackenzie Mitchell, from the midfield, near-side sideline, sent a through ball all the way into the box that senior Elia Howard scored on to put Sandpoint ahead 2-0 early. Barnes, on a broken play, then found herself in the middle of the box during the 27th minute and turned around and fired in her first goal of the night to push the lead to three goals.

Avery Lathen, who holds the school record for most goals in a single season at Lewiston, scored about 30 seconds later and on a penalty kick during the 45th minute to bring the Lady Bengals within one goal.

However, Barnes had something to say about that. 

The standout senior took advantage of Lewiston's aggressiveness and scored three goals during the last 13 minutes of play to ensure the Lady Bulldog victory.

During the 67th minute, junior Bayah Ratigan sent a perfect pass to Barnes, who just had the opposing goalkeeper to beat as she sunk a no-doubter. During the 73rd and 80th minutes, Howard connected with Barnes on two separate occasions for the Lady Bulldogs' fifth and sixth goals of the night in what was an overall gritty performance by Sandpoint.

"We tried to make Lewiston play to our tempo; there's been times in the season when we lowered our tempo based on the opposing team, so it was good to see us keep it up," coach Brinkmeier noted. "Of course, there was that two-goal run, and before a couple of weeks ago, we would have went back into a shell and started defending. It was nice to see that we now have the confidence and put the pressure on Lewiston until we finished out the game."

Junior goalkeeper Izzy Stark registered five saves in the winning effort.

No. 2 Sandpoint (5-8-1) will travel to No. 1 Moscow (10-2-3) for the 5A District 1-2 Championship, which will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at the Moscow Community Playfields. In their prior two meetings this season, the first match between the rivals resulted in a 0-0 draw while the second match was a 3-0 Lady Bears victory.

"We need to be able to handle their pace on the outside and not give up those through balls," coach Brinkmeier said about what his team needs to do to achieve victory. "Moscow comes out at a high press, especially on those right and left sides, so if we can get that taken care of and knock them off their game, we can maybe punch our ticket to state."

1st half — 1, SPT, Raelyn Olsen (unassisted), 2'. 2, SPT, Elia Howard (Mackenzie Mitchell), 6'. 3, SPT, Hope Barnes (unassisted), 27'. 4, LEW, Avery Lathen (unassisted), 27'. 2nd half — 5, LEW, Avery Lathen (penalty kick), 45'. 6, SPT, Hope Barnes (Bayah Ratigan), 67'. 7, SPT, Hopes Barnes (Elia Howard), 73'. 8, SPT, Hopes Barnes (Elia Howard), 80'.

Shots on goal: SPT — 13. LEW — 7.

Saves: SPT — Izzy Stark 5. LEW — Millie Swenson 7.