Bulldog girls set to defend 4A state title

SANDPOINT — Is there another banner in store for Sandpoint soccer?

The Bulldog girls title defense starts bright and early today, when they open the 4A state tournament against Twin Falls this morning at 9 a.m. at Lake City High School.

Sandpoint (6-8-2) is peaking at the right time, playing its best soccer of the season in the past couple of games. Twin Falls (14-4) has lit up the scoreboard this season, hitting double digits in five wins against inferior competition.

That Twin Falls beat Minico 14-0 and 13-0, Jerome 13-0 and Burly 12-0 probably speaks more to soccer’s relevance at some of the southeast 4A schools, and less about the actual scoring prowess of the Bruins. That said, any team that puts up numbers like that has the ability to find the back of the net.

“When Twin Falls gets its offense rolling, they get it rolling,” said Max McCombs, a sportswriter in Twin Falls.

The Bruins also lost 6-1 to 5A Timberline and 4-1 to 5A Rocky Mountain, and fell 3-2 and 1-0 to 4A playoff perennial Wood River, the champion from their district, when playing more equitable competition.

The Bulldogs, however, play up in class far more than they play down, so the record is often misleading heading down to state.

The back four of Corinne Ariss, Madi Schoening, Heidi Skinner and Grace Johnson are battle tested, and against a solid keeper in Paige Dumars, the Bruins will earn any goals. Ariss is also dangerous moving up into the midfield, where she can help direct the attack.

The question for Sandpoint is can they generate enough offense to make a run at defending their title? The Bulldogs are young, starting more freshmen (three) than seniors (two), which usually means a learning curve, but are battle tested by this point in the season.

Nan Kiebert will be one of the more dangerous and speedy target players in the tournament, and with fellow juniors Riley Couch and Caroline Suppiger, will spearhead the attack in the scoring third. Suppiger leads the team with four goals, and Couch is second with three.

Ashly Busch, who scored the game winner in the district championship, will team with Rachel Meyer and Hadley Marshall in the midfield, which can resemble a mosh pitt in its physicality at state.

Unlike the gaudy numbers put up by the Bruins, Sandpoint has scored 19 goals and allowed 24, but those results came against Spokane and Coeur d’Alene area competition, far saltier than the Bruins’ schedule.

With rain in the forecast, and highs calling for the low 50s in Coeur d’Alene, the 9 a.m. start time will likely have wet grass, which is often an equalizer that brings teams closer together. The chance of skipping balls, difficult bounces and sketchy footing can have huge effects on a game.

Win or lose on the field, the Bulldogs are definitely champs in the classroom, winning the Idaho High School Activities Association 4A girls soccer academic state championship, boasting a robust team GPA of 3.79. Congratulations to the Bulldogs for excelling as student-athletes.