STATE HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TOURNAMENTS: A start and finish to remember for Lake City ... Timberwolf girls, Coeur d'Alene boys, Coeur d'Alene Charter boys advance to semifinals

• 6A GIRLS

IDAHO FALLS — It was the start that Lake City coach Matt Ruchti drew up. 

But it might have been the finish that senior Chloe Burkholder has been dreaming of. 

Burkholder scored on an penalty kick in the 109th minute for the second-seeded Timberwolves in a 3-2 win over the seventh-seeded Eagle Mustangs in an opening round match in the state 6A tournament at Bonneville High on Thursday. 

Junior Ava Roberts scored on an assist from Burkholder 14 seconds into the match to give Lake City a 1-0 lead. 

"We just took the kickoff and went down and scored," Ruchti said. "It was exactly what we talked about before the game and the girls executed it perfectly." 

Roberts found senior Riley Brazle in the 61st minute to give Lake City a 2-0 lead before Eagle scored twice in seven minutes to tie the game at 2-2. 

Lake City (14-3-0) faces sixth-seeded Boise (12-5-0), which upset third-seeded Owyhee (15-4-1) 2-0, in a semifinal today at noon PDT. Eagle (12-7-1), which eliminated the Timberwolves in a play-in match last season, faces the Storm of Meridian in a loser-out match. 

"I thought we played well for huge chunks of the game," Ruchti said. "We just had a few minutes where things didn't go our way. Things just happened and they got a call and put a goal away. We caused the problems, but I couldn't be more proud of our group." 

Burkholder drew a foul inside the penalty box late in the second overtime, then knocked in a penalty kick to send the Timberwolves to the semis. 

"Our players off the field just willed the kids on the field to that result," Ruchti said. "I'm just proud of the whole group all-around." 

First half — 1, LC, Ava Roberts (Chloe Burkholder), :14. Second half — 2, LC, Riley Brazle (Roberts), 61:00. 3, Eag, Stella Jones (penalty kick), 63:00. 4, Eag, unknown, 67:00. First overtime — none. Second overtime — 5, LC, Burkholder (penalty kick), 109:00. 

Shots on goal — Eag 10, LC 15. 

Saves — Eag, Campbell Reynolds, 13; LC, Savvy Spencer 9. 

Middleton 1 

Coeur d'Alene 1 (PKs)

IDAHO FALLS — Fifth-seeded Coeur d'Alene, at state for the first time since 2019, took a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior Izzy Grimmett, but lost to fourth-seeded Middleton 4-1 in a shootout at Bonneville High. 

Middleton (12-3-4), shooting first, scored in all four rounds of the shootout. Junior Taryn Young scored in the shootout for Coeur d'Alene. The Middleton keeper stopped the next two Cd'A kicks.

"It was a tough one," Coeur d'Alene coach Andy Vredenburg said. "We got that goal, and the girls played really well. They just got a long ball in and were able to tie it. The girls bounced back in overtime and we had a couple of really good chances. But unfortunately, it didn't go our way." 

Coeur d'Alene (10-6-0) faces eighth-seeded Highland (12-6-1) of Pocatello in a loser-out game today at 10 a.m. PDT. Highland fell to top-seeded Timberline of Boise 3-1. 

"We had a lot of ups and downs, but the girls kept fighting," Vredenburg said. "We're still in it, and looking forward to bouncing back tomorrow." 

First half — none. Second half — 1, Cd'A, Izzy Grimmett (unassisted), 51:00. First overtime — none. Second overtime — none. 

Shots on goal — Cd'A 7, Midd 5. 

Saves — Cd'A, Maddie Olivier 3; Midd, Megan Stewart 6. 

• 6A BOYS

Coeur d'Alene 2 

Highland 1 

AMMON — If the idea of practicing how you play worked well, you can credit that for the quick start by the top-seeded Viking boys at Hillcrest High. 

Senior Isaac Lowder scored in the 22nd minute, then junior Asier Pocho Rodriguez added a goal in the 29th minute for the Vikings, who held on to defeat the eighth-seeded Rams (10-8-3) of Pocatello in the opening round of the state 6A tournament. 

"Both goals came off what we'd been focusing on all week of playing the ball to our feet," Coeur d'Alene coach Robbie Harmelink said. "The boys did a good job of running off each other and were able to find that final pass. I was really happy to see that implemented in what we were doing this week." 

Coeur d'Alene (14-0-1) faces fourth-seeded Timberline (10-6-4) of Boise in the semifinals today at 2 p.m. PDT. The Vikings defeated the Wolves 3-1 on Aug. 29 at Viking Field. 

"I know they're itching to play us again, and we're itching to play them," said Harmelink, whose team is bidding for its first trip to the state title game since 2016. "We'll come out and put our best foot forward to reach our goals." 

Highland (10-8-3) faces fifth-seeded Rocky Mountain (10-7-2) of Meridian in a loser-out match today. 

First half — 1, Cd'A, Isaac Lowder (Payson Shaw), 22:00. 2, Cd'A, Asier Pocho Rodriguez (Brett Johnson), 29:00. Second half — 3, High, Eric Gao (unassisted), 41:00. 

Shots on goal — High 7, Cd'A 10. 

Saves — High, Chase Hall 8; Cd'A, Grant Johnson 6. 

• 4A BOYS

Cd'A Charter 2 

McCall-Donnelly 0 

BURLEY — Junior Luke Blasick had six saves for the third-seeded Panthers in a state 4A opening round win over the sixth-seeded Vandals at Burley High. 

"It was a very sloppy game for offensively for us," said Coeur d'Alene Charter coach Craig Daigle, whose team beat McCall-Donnelly in last year's state title match at Meridian High. "Our defense really stepped up. Liam Garr-Coles had some excellent one-on-one defense and Luke really stepped up in goal." 

Coeur d'Alene Charter (15-2-1) faces second-seeded Sugar-Salem (15-2-2) in the semifinals today at noon PDT. Coeur d'Alene Charter and Sugar-Salem played to a 2-2 draw on Sept. 18 at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake. 

Senior Sam Hines and junior Jesper Giaever scored goals for Coeur d'Alene Charter. 

"Sam had a 100% effort goal in the first half, pressuring the back line and getting a deflection into the goal," Daigle said. "The second half saw an absolute beautiful cross pass from Taylor Smith to Jesper Giaever, who sent a 30-yard banger past the keeper." 

First half — 1, Charter, Sam Hines (unassisted), 32:00. Second half — 2, Charter, Jesper Giaever (Taylor Smith), 70:00. 

Shots on goal — McD 8, Charter 6. 

Saves — McD, unknown 4; Charter, Luke Blasick 6. 

• 4A GIRLS

Fruitland 5

Timberlake 0

TWIN FALLS — The seventh-seeded Tigers (15-3-2) fell to the second-seeded Grizzlies (16-0-3) in the opening round of the state 4A tournament at Twin Falls High.

Timberlake faces third-seeded Kimberly (17-1-1) in a loser-out match today at 8 a.m. PDT.

    Photo by SHELLY JOHNSON Coeur d'Alene junior midfielder Asier Pocho Rodriguez (5) receives a hug from senior teammate Brett Johnson, as other teammates celebrate his goal in the second half of Thursday's state 6A boys soccer match against Highland of Pocatello at Hillcrest High in Ammon.