Pagano leads Bulldog girls to 'wild' win

CALDWELL — “High drama” and “wild” were the first three words that Sandpoint coach Adam Tajan used to describe his team’s come-from-behind 3-2 win over Bishop Kelly in the opening round of the 4A state soccer playoffs Thursday at Brothers Field in Caldwell.

It was easy to see why he chose such words, as the Bulldogs (12-4-2) rallied from a 2-0 half time deficit to hand the Knights (18-1-1) their first loss of the season in overtime.

Meghan Pagano scored twice in the second half, both on rippers from about 18 yards out, to force the game into overtime. The freshman now has a team high nine goals on the season, after finishing a couple of nice passes from Alicia Mertz and Ellie Engel.

Having been through the stress of a shoot-out in the district championship win over Moscow, the Bulldogs had no intention of repeating history, as Melinda Van Dyk took a nice cross from Jessica Dexter and scored the winning goal just two minutes into the first overtime, completing the dramatic comeback.

“They wanted it more,” said Tajan of his team’s effort in the second half. “They were getting physical, getting in nasty on tackles and playing the game they were capable of. We battled back from two down; it was emotional for the girls.”

Tajan also had high praise for the play of Bryce Clark in goal, who made some key saves in the second half to help enable the comeback. Tajan said the entire team stepped it up in the second half after a couple of mistakes in the first half proved costly.

The Bulldogs will take on Hillcrest (10-7-2) today after the Knights won 2-1 over Twin Falls in double overtime on Thursday. Game time is once again at 1 p.m.

First half — 1, BK, Katelin Bartles, 11:00. 2, BK, Tamara Snow, 37:00. Second half — 3, Spt, Meghan Pagano (Alicia Mertz), 44:00. 4, Meghan Pagano (Ellie Engel), 70:00. Overtime — 5, Spt, Melinda Van Dyk (Jessica Dexter), 2:00.

Shots on goal — BK 11, Spt 9.

Saves — BK, Abby Yanke 6; Spt, Bryce Clark 9.