She’d never taken a PK for Boise. But she buried her first one to clinch a district title
Boise’s Nolyn Cromie stepped to the spot Wednesday for the first penalty kick of her high school career.
A make would turn her into the hero and lift Boise High girls soccer to its second straight district title. A miss would send the shootout to an eighth round.
But the junior didn’t show any nerves, coolly burying the decisive strike into the top right corner of the net. The blast secured Boise a 6-5 victory in penalty kicks over Timberline after a 1-1 draw in the 5A District Three Tournament championship.
Boise (15-0-1) coach Nicole Arsenault named seven shooters for the shootout, adding a couple of extras to the list in case it went to sudden death. Cromie takes penalty kicks for her club team, but the Brave had yet to call on her in any situation. When she heard her name, though, she said she had one thought.
“I’m going to bury this in the back of the net,” Cromie said.
Boise’s Kunie Hirai, Sammy Smith, Marisol Stosich, Mia Barron and Catherine Carpenter converted their spot kicks to send the shootout to a seventh round. Timberline (13-3-2) junior Jade Vachek’s shot then cruelly glanced off the right post, opening the door for Cromie to clinch the title.
Arsenault said she never doubted Cromie would bury it.
“Nolan is not an outside back, and she’s played almost every minute for us at outside back,” Arsenault said. “She is just a heck of a soccer player. She knows the game. She understands the game. She reads it well, and she’s very mature.
“That helps lead to that composure that she carries. For how tiny she is, she’s a very big person.”
The shootout capped a championship game that finished seconds shy of a golden-goal winner in the second overtime. Boise’s Grace Hatch found the back of the net from 15 yards out as the buzzer rang, but the referees ruled her shot came after the clock struck zero.
High school rules require a clock with a visible timer, providing certainty for how much time remains. But the clock removes a referee’s discretion in the final seconds to let an opportunity play out.
Boise struck first Wednesday when Hirai made a run to the end line, then centered the ball back to Stosich for a one-timer in the 12th minute. Timberline answered four minutes later when sophomore Mackenzie Hildebrand scored an Olimpico, curling a shot into the net off a corner kick.
Timberline created the vast majority of scoring chances the rest of the way. But the Wolves couldn’t convert, and Boise scratched out a win to stretch its unbeaten streak to 24 games.
The Brave enter next week’s state tournament at Rocky Mountain as the clear favorite and defending state champs. The tournament seeds won’t be released until Monday, but Boise’s resume assures it will earn the top seed and will open the weekend at 11 a.m. Oct. 19.
Timberline also advances to state, and the latest MaxPreps rankings have the Wolves as the No. 2 seed.
“We’re on a mission,” Timberline coach Jarreth Chan said. “We’re young, but we want to do well and make a run at state. So we’re going to train hard, we’re going to practice and keep getting better. It’s all about developing for us.”
FINAL GAME FOR BOISE’S SAMMY SMITH
The district championship added a final trophy in Smith’s final high school soccer game. The senior will miss next week’s state tournament for the second year in a row while playing for the U.S. national team.
The U.S. selected Smith for its Pan American Games roster on Monday, naming the 18-year-old to her second major tournament roster. She also played for the U.S. at the U-17 World Cup in India last fall and scored two goals.
Smith played only 18 minutes Wednesday as the national team asked her to limit her workload before the international tournament. But she returned in the shootout round to convert a crucial penalty kick.
“It’s definitely unfortunate because that’s not the way I was hoping to end my high school soccer career,” Smith said. “But at least we got the win tonight. So it ended on a positive note.”
Smith leaves Thursday morning to catch a plane for Chile, where the U.S. will train ahead of the eight-team tournament. The Americans will bring a U-19 squad to the tournament, but it will face teams of mostly senior national players, U.S. Soccer said in a news release.
The Stanford commit is also a member of the U.S. Cross Country Ski team and competed at four World Cup events last spring.
“Boise High has not seen that type of multisport athlete at that high of a level,” Arsenault said. “We’re talking about a national team in two different sports before she was even an adult.
“Plus the academics and volunteer work, it just sets a whole different standard I don’t think the state has seen before.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2023 at 10:32 PM.
