Wolverines improve to 3-0 in conference play

The Weiser High School boys soccer upped their conference record to 3-0 after they beat the  McCall-Donnelly Vandals for the first time this season on Sept. 10.
 They also played Baker at home on Sept. 9, dropping the non-conference contest 2-0. The game against Fruitland had to be rescheduled to Monday, Sept. 23, due to a lack of available referees.
 Fall was in the air in McCall with cloudy skies and some rain misting down before the away game started, which ended in a 4-1 win for the Wolverines.
 Control of the ball went back and forth between the Wolverines and the Vandals during the first half. Neither team could capitalize on any fouls, shots either went over or were stopped by the goalies.
 At 26 minutes into the first half, Weiser keeper Gabe Rasmussen took a hit to the head during a play and was pulled out of the game. Chris Gonzalez went in for him, and had a save just a few plays later.
 The half ended with a 0-0 score. Something fired up the boys during the half-time huddle, and they came out with a determination to win.
 Weiser began the second half with possession of the ball, and in less than 40 seconds had their first point on the scoreboard. Gonzalez was back in the game as forward, and took a shot that went past the Vandal’s goalie.
 Momentum stayed high as a minute later Bryce Bake had a breakaway shot that the McCall-Donnelly keep fumbled, and the ball made it to the back of the net for Weiser’s second point.
 Eight minutes later, Bake was able to get the ball past the Vandal goalie to bring the score to 3-0 in favor of the Wolverines.
 McCall-Donnelly’s Bernard Kindall received a yellow card with 16 minutes left on the clock. Marcos Tarelo took the resulting kick and sent the ball into play.
 With an assist from Cris Cornejo, Bake launched another shot at the net and brought in Weiser’s final goal of the night.
 Play became fierce, with Weiser wanting to keep the Vandals at a zero score, and the Vandals wanting to get up on the scoreboard. McCall-Donnelly took several shots in the last 5 minutes. One looked like it was going to go in, as Rasmussen had a small fumble going for the ball. The rest of the Weiser defense came to his aid and cleared out the ball.
 Play came back in front of the Wolverine net, and Kindall was able to sneak in a point for the Vandals in the last 60 seconds.
 Coach Kathy Bokides was pleased with the 4-1 win for the team. Bokides said that they had “shooting practice” the night before.
 In the Baker City game Monday night, Weiser had 33 shots on goal, of which 15 went over the net.
 “So tonight, it was 15 shots on goal, and only around 3 went over, so that improved, she said.
 During the first half of the game, Weiser was more defensive on their playing.
 “They were kinda getting down on each other. They needed to trust their teammates, and pass the ball,” Bokides said. She felt that they needed to make passes, not just poke and jab at the ball.
 During the second half the team took her words to heart, and settled down and started trusting each other again. “They settled down, and made stuff happen,” she said.
Weiser versus Baker City, Sept. 9
 With what many said was perfect soccer weather, the Wolverines took their first loss of the season against the Baker City Bulldogs on Sept. 9 during their last home game for a stretch of time.
 Both teams came out aggressively. Triston Kautz made a cross that Cris Cornejo was almost able to make into the goal, but the Bulldog’s keeper was able to grab the ball out of the air just in time.
 Four minutes into play, Baker got the ball right in front of Weiser’s net, and Bulldog Isael Duran was able to edge the ball in past the defenders for a 0-1 advantage to Baker.
 After the goal, play went back and forth. Each side would claim control of the ball, miss their shot and then play would go back to the other side.
 At one point it looked like an attempt made by Chris Gonzales would go in, but the ball dropped right in front of the net and a Baker defender was able to head the ball out. The action then moved back in front of Weiser’s net, where the defense worked well together to clear the ball away.
 The first half ended with Baker holding on to their one point lead.
 The Wolverines tried to gain some ground and did a good job of maintaining possession of the ball the second half. While several players all tried, none could get their shots into the Baker net.
 It looked like that was about to change, when 22 minutes into the second half, the Wolverines looked like they were going to have something happen. After a series of passes, Triston Kautz got the ball over to Bryce Bake, who headed the ball into the net. Unfortunately, he was called offsides in the last second of the play, and the goal did not count.
 With 10 minutes left in the game, Baker was able to score again off of a straight shot by Brylan Robb. This brought the score to 2-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
 Weiser brought the energy for the last 10 minutes, and tried to even things up, but just weren’t able to connect the ball with the back of the Bulldog net despite numerous tries.
 Play ended with Baker taking the win 2-0.
 The offensive side of the Wolverines took 33 shots at goal, but weren’t able to make any of them count.
 Coach Kathy Bokides felt that her defenders did a great job, despite the two goals that got pass.
 “Bryan (Valdivia) did a great job. They (Baker) were getting the balls over his head a lot, so he had to run a lot. But he adjusted to that, he did a great job,” Bokides said of one of her defenders. She also commented on how well Justin Estes did to help Bryan out.
 “Caden Cramer is playing a great stopper,” she said. Even though he has never played the position before, she is pleased with how well he is doing on his chest drops to get the ball out of the air, and distributes to the side well.
 One thing that has been noticed is how many of the older, returning players might not be playing in positions that they’ve been in before.
 “We have such a big team, trying to get everyone in the game means that they might have to play something new,” Bokides said.
 Bokides added, “The whole team stood out. They all did well.”
 

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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