Foster’s late penalty kick saves undefeated season as BFHS draws ICA

BONNERS FERRY — The Bonners Ferry High School boys’ soccer team followed up a dominant first half with a lackluster second half on Wednesday night, drawing 3-3 with undefeated Immaculate Conception Academy for its second straight tie.

It was a tale of two halves for the Badgers (5-0-3), which jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second half and looked dominant for the first 40 minutes of play. But some unlucky bounces and lackadaisical stretches of play in the second half allowed ICA back into the game before senior captain Dalin Foster played the role of hero.

With Bonners Ferry down 3-2 with less than a minute remaining after having blown a two-goal lead, and with its undefeated season on the line, Foster was calm as he prepared to take a potential game-saving penalty kick. His coach was just as calm and confident.

“100% he’s making it,” said BFHS head coach Brycen Lunger. “He is built for that. When it’s a big moment, he’ll show up. 100% no doubt about it, number 17 is stepping up to take that shot.”

Foster rewarded his coach’s confidence, stepping up to the ball and freezing the ICA goalkeeper with a line-drive shot into the lower left corner of the goal, finding the back of the net to even the game up at 3-3 and preserve the Badgers’ undefeated season.

After being held scoreless in a draw against Timberlake on Monday night, senior forward Daniel Walker wouldn’t be held down two games in a row, scoring two goals to lead Bonners Ferry.

Walker got the Badgers on the board first, scoring in the 9th minute. He didn’t wait long to extend Bonners Ferry’s lead, beating his man 1-on-1 just five minutes later and ripping a shot past the opposing goalkeeper for a 2-0 Badgers lead.

Senior goalkeeper Josh Beazer was tested a few times throughout the game, and back to back tight saves in the final minute of the first half tested his quick reflexes.

“It could have been 4-0 in the first half, we played a really good half,” Lunger said. “It was probably the best half of soccer we’ve had. Second half I feel like we just had really bad bounces, honestly.”

Perhaps the most unlucky of those bad bounces came in the 15th minute of the second half when junior defender Noah Walker accidentally knocked an ICA shot past Beazer and into his own goal, cutting the Badgers’ lead in half.

Just two minutes later, ICA scored on its own merit with a well-placed shot finding its way past Beazer and evening the score at two apiece.

With a little over a minute remaining, Beazer couldn’t stop a ripped shot on a 1-on-1, and as the ball struck the net and gave ICA its first lead of the game, the Badgers’ undefeated streak found itself in life support before Foster nailed the equalizer.

“I think this was one of our biggest challenges of the year,” Lunger said. “I like the metal toughness of our team right now … we’re not just like, ‘oh, they got us 3-2 with a minute left’, we’re done, we lost.’ We salvage a tie out of it because we get hustle plays because we’re still mentally locked in.”

The BFHS boys’ soccer team will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 3 for a home game against Post Falls at 1 p.m.