Title quest
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
Friday, October 24, 2008 11:17 AM PDT
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| Scott Ford | Argus Observer
Payette’s Jose Hernandez fires off a shot against the Wendell goalie during the Idaho 3A state soccer tournament at Vallivue High School in Caldwell. Payette defeated Wendell 2-0 in the opening round of play. |
Caldwell — Day one of the Idaho 3A state soccer tournament, which is taking place at Vallivue High School in Caldwell, is in the books, and three of the four area Treasure Valley teams moved to the right in the brackets, while one, Weiser, went left and will contend for the consolation prize with a win today.
Both the Payette boys and girls won, as did the Fruitland girls in opening round action.
On the girls’ side of the tournament, Fruitland hit the pitch against Buhl and pounded out a 5-1 win with goals from Natalie Finch, Tess Thompson, Karli Farmer, Lindsey Jones and Amanda Atwood.
Snake River Valley Conference rival Payette also ended the opening day with a win as they defeated Snake River 3-1. Scoring goals for the Lady Pirates were Cass Gross, with two, and Myra Flores.
The win sets up a familiar match up for these two schools today as Payette and Fruitland will battle yet again. This time the stakes are much higher. The winner advances to the championship game, while the loser will battle for third place.
In the boys tournament, Payette shut out Wendell 2-0, and Weiser fell late to Sugar-Salem 1-0.
Payette picked up goals from Mario Flores and Joseph Bolin, while Pirate keeper Brandon Bake logged five saves in the win. The win advanced the Pirates to the semifinals where they will meet Sugar-Salem today at 2 p.m.
Weiser and Sugar-Salem battled 0-0 for the majority of the game. Then late in the second half, Sugar-Salem was able to put the ball in the net for the lead and the eventual win.
With the loss, Weiser will face Wendell today at 11 a.m. in an elimination game.
