Weiser soccer remains unbeaten in conference

After another grueling week of three games, Weiser came home with a tie against Baker and wins against Payette and McCall-Donnelly.
 With just seven games left in regular season, the Wolverine boys soccer team is having an impressive year so far. Their SRV conference record is 5-0, while their season record is 5-1-3.
 Weiser not only played against the McCall-Donnelly Vandals on the Sept. 19, but they also battled against a wind that was taking shots away from the goal. The final score was 3-1 in Weiser’s favor.
 The teams seemed evenly matched during the game, with neither team controlling the ball more than the other. Play was intense from the beginning, with Weiser’s Edgar Ayala taking a shot just 33 seconds into the first half. The Vandal keeper was able to stop it, and just a minute later answered back with their own shot that Wolverine Gabe Rasmussen was able to grab.
 Possession continued to go back and forth, until at 16:33 in the first half, Bryce Bake’s shot went past the Vandal goalie when he fumbled the grab for the ball.
 The score stayed at 1-0 through the rest of the first half. Weiser tried to make several more goals, but they were either stopped by the keeper, or with the help of the wind, they would go up and over the net.
 The Wolverines came in strong the second half and commanded control of the ball in the beginning. After 6 minutes, Triston Kautz placed a perfect pass to Chris Gonzalez, who was able to make the shot past the McCall-Donnelly defense for the second point of the game.
 Seconds later, after the ball was reset, Weiser again gained control of the ball and Ander Barbot scored on a shot that the Vandal keeper fumbled to pick up. This brought the score to 3-0, which is how it remained until the last seconds of the game.
 With 10 minutes left on the clock, Vandal Rivaldo Verano received a red card for pushing and McCall-Donnelly played a player down.
 During the final seconds of the game, play came in front of the Weiser net. Defender Justin Estes had a foul called on him in the goalie box and the Vandals were award a penalty kick. McCall-Donnelly’s Geovanni Martinez took the shot and was able to get the ball past Rasmussen for their only point of the game.
 Coach Kathy Bokides spoke about how Weiser managed to get the first goal.
 “We’ve been working on taking the ball to the endline and centering it back, and that’s what they did,” she said.
 “Edgar plays real well, and plays as a team member, and so does Alfonso,” Bokides said. “The team is working real hard and coming together.”
 Bokides said there are still some things to work on for the rest of the season, such as some of their control when taking shots.
 “There were some real bombs, with shots going over the net.”
 She also felt that the game had a good reminder on being careful inside the box.
 “Today it didn’t matter, it would have been nice to have a shut-out though. It’s always good for Gabe to have penalty kick practice. But it could have been a game where it mattered, so it is good to learn from.”
 Tuesday’s game against Payette was on the Pirates’ field, but that didn’t give them an advantage during the game. The Wolverines dominated and walked away from the game with an 8-0 win.
 Weiser began the game with possession of the ball, and took an early advantage. Only 1:20 into the game, Barbot was passed the ball and took a shot that went into the back of the Pirate’s net.
 In the next 90 seconds, Weiser took two more shots, but it was Bake who got the second goal, off of a corner kick by Jordan Watkins.
 Gonzalez continued the energy when he made a goal at 4:25, bringing the score up to 3-0.
 Weiser maintained control of the ball for most of the first half, but it took them until 16 minutes left in the first half before they got another goal. This time it was Cris Cornejo who was able to get the ball past Payette’s defenses.
 Wolverine Alfonso Hernandez kept up the energy when he scored two times in a row. With 9:30 left on the clock, he pushed up to the Pirate’s net and made a goal. He then did it again 2 minutes later, bringing the score to 6-0.
 With just one minute left, Nathan Turner threw the ball in, and Cornejo gained control and pushed up to Payette’s goal and scored. The first half ended with the Wolverines ahead 7-0.
 The second half of the game was used as a chance to get some Weiser players time in positions not as familiar to them. One of these players was senior Travis Schimmel, who has played defense in the past and has just recently began to play midfield. He was put up as a forward and was fed the ball by his teammates as he made several attempts to score. His final attempt came with just one minute left on the clock. He was passed the ball by Hernandez and made the shot that went past the Pirate keeper, to give him his first goal of his soccer career and brought the score to 8-0.
 “I was impressed of the team, and their work as a team,” Bokides said.
 She was impressed with how they listened, and how they held themselves back. “They listened and they were disciplined. They kept setting Travis up and having fun with it.”
 Bokides also felt that their passing game was on point, and they did well with the short passes like they have been practicing.
 “I felt good that they worked on things they needed to for the next game,” Bokides said.
 Monday’s trip to Baker was bitterly cold and wet. Varsity didn’t start until 7:20 p.m. and so they played under the lights. The game was a hard fought battle with no winners, as it ended with a 0-0 tie.
 Weiser defenses worked hard during the first half to keep the Baker Bulldogs shut down. Attempts were made by both teams, but they either went out of bounds, were cleared by the defense, or stopped by the keep. After 33 minutes of play, it looked like Weiser was going to get a goal when Bake was able to get the ball past the Bulldog’s goalie. A foul was called on him, interference with the keeper, and the goal was not counted. The first half ended with neither team having scored.
 The second half of the game was full of action, beginning with a yellow card being called on Baker’s Jamisun Rigueiro just a minute into play. At 13 minutes in, Cornejo was given a yellow card for     recklessness.
 Nico Helmreich of Baker was the final player to earn a yellow card for pushing, at the halfway point of the half.
 With 10 minutes left, Baker pushed down the field and was able to get a ball past Rasmussen, but the Baker player was called offsides and the goal was not counted.
 The Bulldogs were aggressive, but the Wolverines were able to keep them from scoring, and the game finally came to a close with a 0-0 score.
 One of the players that Bokides thought shined during the game was Caden Cramer.
 “He did incredible,” she said. “To step up and play that position (stopper). He was not comfortable in that position, but did amazing. I had confidence that he could do it, he wasn’t going to make mistakes, and he would play safe.”
 “The team did good as a whole,” she said. “Gabe also played an incredible game.”