Flathead bounces Bison

Sean Riley scores two goals to help Braves reach semifinal

With a well directed shot, Sean Riley and his teammates finally could settle down a little bit.

The junior Flathead forward nailed a penalty kick with eight minutes left in the first half to break a scoreless tie.

"It definitely took a little bit of the pressure off," said Riley, who also scored the final goal in Flathead's 3-0 shutout of Great Falls High Thursday.

"I was just satisfied to get it. It definitely jacked me up."

Riley's final goal came at 62 minutes as the Braves advanced to the semifinal round of the AA state soccer tournament at Kidsport.

The Braves will face Billings Senior, who blanked Helena High, 3-0, today at noon.

In Thursday's other quarterfinal action it was Billings West 3, Helena Capital 1; and Bozeman 3, Butte 2 in overtime.

Bozeman will play West today at noon in the other semifinal match.

In consolation play today at noon it's Great Falls vs. Helena and Capital vs. Butte at noon.

Jeremy DeHerrera put FHS up 2-0 with a free kick at 49 minutes.

"They're a good team," said Riley of the Bison.

"They played well."

Flathead, the top seed from the West, dominated the action. The Braves outshot the Bison, the fourth seed from the East, 24-9 for the match, 12-3 in the opening half.

The Braves were camped on Great Falls' end of the field for the first 40 minutes, netting just one goal.

"We weren't finishing," said Riley.

"We had a lot of chances. We couldn't put the ball in the net.

"Whenever there was a chance of us scoring, they'd clear it," continued Riley, who has a team high 15 goals on the season.

"That put a lot of pressure on our touches. They had to be perfect."

Flathead coach Tom McFarlane said the team could have worked the ball a little better into the attacking third of the field.

"They were anxious," he said.

"High energy. Let 'em play (it out)."

Brock Jahner finished the contest with eight goalie saves for Flathead while Todd Lukkason of Great Falls had nine.

"Good ball possession," said McFarlane.

"We kept the ball a lot. Good defense didn't let them (Bison) in very much."

After DeHerrera scored nine minutes into the second half, McFarlane felt a little safer about going to his bench.

"Luckily we got the lead and we were able to play a lot of guys," he said.

"I was able to rest a bunch of the starters. I was gratified by the way the bench played. That's encouraging."

Flathead also started off last year's state tournament by facing Great Falls High and Senior in the first two rounds. The Braves won both of those matches, 1-0 and 2-1 in overtime, respectively.

The Braves then fell 3-2 in overtime to Helena in the championship match.

BRAVES 3, BISON 0

Great Falls High 0 0 - 0

Flathead 1 2 - 3

Flathead - Sean Riley, 32:00; Jeremy DeHerrera, 49:00; Riley (Jordan Lister), 62:00.

Shots - Great Falls 9, Flathead 24. Saves - Great Falls (Todd Lukkason 9), Flathead (Brock Jahner 8). Corner Kicks - Great Falls 4, Flathead 8. Fouls - Great Falls 14, Flathead 18. Offside - Great Falls 3, Flathead 3. Yellow cards - Great Falls 3, Flathead 1. Red cards -None. Records - Great Falls 6-6-2, Flathead 10-2-1.

Senior 3, Helena 0

Andrew Kreiter had a hand in all three goals, assisting Jeff Bartsch on the first one just one minute into play. Kreiter then scored both second-half goals.

Senior outshot Helena 14-5.

BRONCS 3, BENGALS 0

Helena High 0 0 - 0

Billings Senior 1 2 - 3

BS - Jeff Bartsch (Andrew Kreiter), 1:00; Kreiter (Kyle Brekke), 54:00; Kreiter, 62:00.

Shots - Helena 5, Senior 14. Saves - Helena (Brenden Magill 8), Senior (Rohn Angel 5). Corner kicks - Helena 2, Senior 3. Fouls - Helena 15, Senior 21. Offside - none. Yellow cards - none. Red cards - none. Records - Helena 5-8-2, Senior 10-2-1.

Bozeman 3, Butte 2, OT

Patrick McCutcheon scored eight minutes into the first overtime period, lifting Bozeman past Butte.

Butte forced extended play when Chris Reichel scored at 78 minutes.

McCutcheon also scored Bozeman's first goal, 20 minutes into the match, and assisted on the second, a score by Nate Appel.

Ted Decker had Butte's other goal.

Butte outshot Bozeman 24-14.

HAWKS 3, BULLDOGS 2, OT

Butte 1 1 0 - 2

Bozeman 1 1 1 - 3

Boz - Patrick McCutcheon, 20:00; Nate Appel (McCutcheon), 69:00; McCutcheon, 88:00.

Butte - Ted Decker (Dylan Maloy), 23:00; Chris Reichel, 78:00

Shots - Butte 24, Bozeman 14. Saves - Butte (Kory Kramer 2), Bozeman (Henry Graham 8). Corner kicks - Butte 5, Bozeman 2. Fouls - Butte 28, Bozeman 9. Offside - Butte 3, Bozeman 1. Yellow cards - Bozeman 2. Red cards - Bozeman 1. Records - Butte 4-8-2, Bozeman 8-3-2.

West 3, Capital 1

Capital scored first, but it was all West after that. Kevin Clapper tied the match at 1-all with a goal at 34 minutes and he followed with another at 61.

Chad Kvilhaug completed the Golden Bear scoring with a goal at 72.

Bo Wilkins gave Capital a 1-0 advantage when he scored on a penalty kick at 20 minutes.

GOLDEN BEARS 3, BRUINS 1

Helena Capital 1 0 - 1

Billings West 1 2 - 3

HC - Bo Wilkins, 20:00

BW - Kevin Clapper, 34:00; Clapper, 61:00; Chad Kvilhaug, 72:00.

Shots - Capital 12, West 11. Saves - Capital (Brendan Ward 3), West (Miguel Martinez 4). Corner kicks - Capital 4, West 4. Fouls - Capital 12, West 16. Offside - Capital 0, West 2. Yellow cards - Capital 1, West 2. Red cards - none. Records - Capital 7-3-3, West 7-5-1.

Hawks dump Hellgate

Kaytie Vander Vos scores on first play of game

The Daily Inter Lake

It's no exaggeration to say that Bozeman led this one from the get-go.

Kaytie Vander Vos scored on the very first play of the game, sending a ball downfield, over the defense, bouncing in front of the keeper and over her head into the goal.

Hawks 1, Missoula Hellgate 0, just seconds into the game.

Bozeman went on to win 4-1, dominating the Knights for most of the match.

The Hawks are in the semifinals of the Class AA state tournament and take on CMR today at 10 a.m.

"Obviously we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish," Hawks coach Erika Hinton said. "The girls played really well, it was a real team effort. We were focused and ready to play."

Hellgate managed to tie the contest with a goal by Leah Snyder at 16 minutes, but Bozeman led 2-1 at the half on Kayte McGuire's goal at 27 minutes.

Shannon Bjelland added two goals in the final half.

Bozeman outshot Hellgate, 18-5.

Also Thursday in opening round play, it was Helena Capital 2, Billings Senior 1; Billings West 2, Missoula Sentinel 1; and C.M. Russell 3, Helena High 1.

In today's other semifinal match, Capital faces West at 10 a.m. In consolation action at 10 a.m., Senior faces Sentinel and Hellgate plays Helena.

HAWKS 4, KNIGHTS 1

Missoula Hellgate 1 0 - 1

Bozeman 2 2 - 4

B - Kaytie Vander Vos, 1:00; Kayte McGuire, 27:00; Shannon Bjelland, 47:00; Bjelland (Megan Bowen), 53:00

MH - Leah Snyder, 16:00

Shots - Hellgate 5, Bozeman 18. Saves - Hellgate (Amanda Combs 10), Bozeman (Casey Harn 2). Corner kicks - Hellgate 3, Bozeman 4.

Fouls - NA. Offside - Hellgate 1, Bozeman 0. Yellow cards - none. Red cards - none. Records - Hellgate 6-7-1, Bozeman 8-1-4.

Capital 2, Senior 1

All the scoring came in the first half as Bethany VanDyke and Jennifer Martin scored two minutes apart for Capital and M'ily Reiter for Senior.

Dani Daly assisted on the final goal for Capital, the defending state champs.

BRUINS 2, BRONCS 1

Billings Senior 1 0 - 1

Helena Capital 2 0 - 2

HC - Bethany VanDyke, 24:00; Jennifer Martin (Dani Daly), 26:00

BS - M'ily Reiter, 27:00

Shots - NA. Saves - NA. Corner kicks - NA. Fouls - NA. Offside - NA. Yellow cards - Capital 1. Red cards - none. Records - Capital 10-1-2, Senior 7-4-3.

West 2, Sentinel 1

Laura Baum assisted on the first score and also scored a goal to lead West.

Maggie Pueringer assisted on Baum's score.

Danielle McQuinn scored for Sentinel at 73:00.

West outshot Sentinel, 21-13.

GOLDEN BEARS 2, SPARTANS 1

Missoula Sentinel 0 1 -1

Billings West 2 0 - 2

BW - Callie Muri (Laura Baum), 21:00; Baum (Maggie Pueringer), 31:00

MS - Danielle McQuinn (Meg Hocking), 73:00

Shots - Sentinel 13, West 21. Saves - Sentinel (Grace Harris 5), West (Kristin Barta 6). Corner kicks - Sentinel 5, West 3. Fouls - Sentinel

6, West 3. Offside - Sentinel 0, West 3. Yellow cards - none. Red cards -none. Records - West 8-2-3, Sentinel 3-7-4.

C.M. Russell 3,

Helena 1

Second half scores by Erin Craig and Ashlee Barton guided CMR past Helena.

Helena got on the board first, a goal by Charla Banks at nine minutes.

CMR tied the match at 1-all 14 minutes later on a shot by Brianna Perry.

Helena outshot the Rustlers, 12-8.

RUSTLERS 3, BENGALS 1

CMR 1 2 - 3

Helena High 1 0 - 1

CMR - Brianna Perry (Brittany Dockter), 23;00; Erin Craig (Brittany Dockter), 51:00; Ashlee Barton (Kribie Wages), 57:00

H - Charla Banks (Allison Moon), 9:00

Shots - CMR 8, Helena 12. Saves - NA. Corner kicks - CMR 2, Helena 3. Fouls - NA. Offside - NA. Yellow cards - CMR 1. Red cards -none. Records - CMR 8-2-4, Helena 9-2-2.