Bulldog girls dominate state opener
BOISE — In a dominating performance, the Sandpoint girls soccer team opened the 4A state tournament with a 7-0 victory over Kuna at the Capital Soccer Complex on Thursday.
Scoring off a corner kick from Brooke Donnelly, senior Elle Carne smashed the ball into the back of the net from 12 yards out in the opening minutes of the game.
"Once we had that early goal a lot of pressure was off the girls, and I think it helped relax us," said Sandpoint coach Adam Tajan. "It also forces a team to play us straight up, instead of packing back their backfield."
Senior Tori Smith, assisted by Donnelly, put the Bulldogs up by two with a goal in the 10th minute of play to give Sandpoint some breathing room.
"I was really happy we were able to come together as a team and play hard for 80 minutes," said senior Abby Jensen, who scored Sandpoint's third goal in the 26th minute with an assist from senior Allison Gillis.
Sandpoint senior Kylie France then scored the final goal of the first half to give Sandpoint a 4-0 lead.
"We came out real hard and scored a couple goals and it pretty much shut them down," said France.
The Bulldogs continued to dominate the second half with Donnelly adding a goal and Katie Adams coming off the bench to tack on two of her own.
"We call her crazy legs, because somehow she can get down their and find away to get the ball in," added Tajan.
The Bulldogs will face state rival Century today. Sandpoint defeated the Diamondbacks in a shoot-out for the 2002 state championship, however last year, Century knocked off the Bulldogs in the semi finals in a shoot-out.
"They're familiar with us and we're familiar with them. So it should be a hard fought game," said Tajan.
First half — 1, Spt, Elle Carne (Brooke Donnelly) 1:30. 2, Spt, Tori Smith (Donnelly) 10:00. 3, Spt, Abby Jensen (Allison Gillis) 26:00. 4, Spt, Kylie France (unassisted) 30:00. Second half — 5, Spt, Donnelly (Gillis) 50:00. 6, Spt, Katie Adams (unassisted) 69:00. 7, Spt, Adams (Gillis) 71:00.
Shots on goal — Sandpoint 14, Kuna 4.
Saves — Spt, Tori Allmaras 4, Sara Krabacher 1; K, Caldwell 2, Hatch 7.