Questions abound for local soccer teams

It's challenging enough for a coach to inherit a losing program and rebuild it from the ground up, but first-year Flathead High School boys soccer coach Eric Sawtelle faces an even stiffer test.

The Braves finished 14-1-1 last year and beat Great Falls C.M. Russell 2-1 to capture the Class AA state title. That track record leaves little room for improvement and plenty of opportunity for decline.

Sawtelle is well acquainted with Flathead's history and its players. He enters his fourth season with the Braves and served as a varsity assistant last year under Tom McFarlane.

A Redlands, Calif., native, Sawtelle, 30, played soccer at Redlands High School before playing college ball at Cal Poly. He teaches earth science and biology at Flathead.

Sawtelle already understands the unique challenges of being a head coach.

"Just organization," Sawtelle said. "Getting all the paperwork in and keeping track of players."

Sawtelle has plenty of new players to keep track of as Flathead lost myriad standout athletes to graduation. Sawtelle describes Flathead's departed class as "a tight group of seniors that all played together for a long time,"

Three-time all-state selection Sean Riley graduated after becoming Flathead's all-time leading scorer last year. Mack Andrews, whom Sawtelle says was "probably the best goalkeeper in the state" last year, is now minding the net at MSU-Billings.

But several Braves with significant experience on the pitch return and all of them are used to winning.

Junior forward Luke Fischer will ignite Flathead's scoring attack.

"He's a big, strong kid," Sawtelle said. "He's very talented."

Juniors Chresten Knaff (forward/midfielder) and Brendan Passmore (sweeper) will figure strongly into Flathead's success while seniors Eric Narduzzi (midfielder) and Andrew Gill (stopper) will provide veteran leadership.

"(Gill) was our backup goalkeeper last year, Sawtelle said. "He's a good, quality player."

Junior center midfielder Connor Cavigli was summoned from junior varsity last season and will be instrumental in Flathead's offense.

"He's very good at distributing the ball and just seeing the field," Sawtelle said.

According to Sawtelle, many people are counting the Braves out of the state picture this season because they lost so much star power.

"I do feel very strongly that we'll be very competitive and our goal is to win state again," Sawtelle said. "We have a young team, but we're very quick and very talented."

Scott Warnell returns to Flathead for his third season as the Bravettes' head coach. He led Flathead to an undefeated regular season and Western Division championship last year, but the Bravettes (14-2) fell short of their postseason goals, finishing fourth at state.

Matching last year's success will be difficult as Flathead returns just two starters: Senior midfielder/forward Annie Braseth and junior forward Meghan O'Connell.

"It'll be tough," Warnell said. "We don't have very much varsity experience. It's tough to replace nine starters. We'll be OK though."

Flathead didn't lose just any nine starters. The Bravettes graduated an elite group of athletes, including forward Jelisa Guy who now plays at Montana State University-Billings.

Junior midfielder/forward Keni VanBrunt isn't a returning starter, but she's a talented player with varsity experience.

According to Warnell, Flathead's strength may be its new core of young players.

"They've played together for the last three years," Warnell said. "Even though it was at the J.V. level, they know how to play together."

Warnell's goal is for the Bravettes to be just as good as they were last year.

"With the way this team is, I can see us improving throughout the year and I can see us putting on a good show at state."

Flathead opens Tuesday at Whitefish.

Bigfork

Third-year girls coach Steve Koch succinctly described last season as "not good."

The Valkyries won just two games a year ago while losing 10. Still, it was marked improvement from 2004 when Bigfork went winless.

But there is legitimate reason to believe the Valkyries will be much stronger now and in the future than they have been in the past.

When Koch took over at Bigfork, there was no competitive youth program in place to develop future Valkyries players. Koch started a program that is yielding results this fall.

Several of the youngsters Koch worked with when he began at Bigfork are now freshmen with the Valkyries.

"They're bringing new energy, new enthusiasm and a new attitude," Koch said.

Freshmen McKenzie Reeve (outside right midfielder), Sydney Sharaf (center midfielder) and Koch's daughter Logun Koch (outside left midfielder) are all starting for Bigfork.

Bigfork also returns four seniors, including goalkeeper Carley Hilley and stopper Hannah Tranel. According to Koch, his seniors have grown tired of losing, but they haven't quit.

"They're excited - they see the energy," Koch said.

That renewed energy was evident Wednesday when the Valkyries scrimmaged Bigfork's boys.

The squads have scrimmaged each other each preseason in Koch's tenure, but the girls had never scored on the boys. The scoreless streak ended Wednesday when the girls notched three goals against the boys.

According to Koch, Bigfork's strength will be its technical ability. He says the Valkyries are fundamentally sound, if not spectacular.

"We're growing," Koch said. "I actually will be running a J.V. program this year."

Koch will coach the J.V. girls, along with a U-12 girls team.

The Valkyries opened Friday with a 6-1 loss at Stevensville.

The boys begin a new era this season under first-year coach Keith Koslosky. Koslosky has 10 years of experience coaching youth soccer.

The Vikings failed to reach the playoffs last year, but Koslosky isn't concerned with the past. Bigfork has 20 players on its roster this season, including Roland Benedict who scored four goals in Bigfork's 6-4 season-opening loss at Stevensville.

Koslosky said it was too early to have a sense of his individual standouts, but likes what he sees overall.

"They're a great group of boys that play their hearts out," Koslosky said. "I didn't see any give up in them (Friday) at all."

Columbia Falls

The boys went 11-2-2 and won the Class A state title last year with a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory against Billings Central. They also won the Northern A conference.

Columbia Falls coach Peter Browne has 10 returning players, but only three of them have starting experience. The Wildcats graduated seven seniors, including three all-state players and two all-conference performers.

Browne says the Wildcats will "still be right there in the mix," but he acknowledges that they will be hard-pressed to repeat as state champions.

"For us to get to the postseason will be a good result," Browne said. "We should be competitive, but we're a little bit young."

One of Columbia Falls' talented youngsters is sophomore forward Travis Pete. He will contribute heavily, along with seniors Dustin Gibson (midfielder), Dennis Marceau (defense) and Keith Appleton, who plays in the back.

"I think our strength is we're just a hard working, blue-collar team," Browne said. "We have the capability of scoring a lot of goals this year, but we're also going to give up more goals than usual."

The girls had a stellar season last year, winning the Northern A conference before losing a 1-0 overtime heartbreaker to Belgrade in the first round of the playoffs.

The Wildkats return 13 players from a team that went 10-3 a year ago. Columbia Falls' senior captains are Amber Lampman (center midfielder), Jessica Boyer (center midfielder) and Sarah Frank (inside back).

Other key returners are seniors Ashley Horine (forward) and Alona Raymond (forward) and junior goalkeeper Colyne Hislop.

Hislop has plenty of experience and learned from the best the last two seasons as backup to graduated all-state goalkeeper Vanessa Almanza.

Wildkats coach Greg Trenerry guided Columbia Falls to a state championship in 2004. He is counting on his team's experience.

"The seniors, they played a pretty big role in that state championship," Trenerry said. "They've played together a long time."

Columbia Falls' biggest loss is Lisa Carter. Carter led the state in goals scored in 2004 and 2005 and now plays at North Idaho College.

The Wildkats opened at Livingston Friday and play at Belgrade today.

Libby

The boys enjoyed a solid regular season last year, finishing third in the Northern A conference before falling to Hamilton in the first round of the playoffs.

But coach Mike Wickstrom should feel like a kid in a candy store this year as the Loggers return 17 players, including eight starters.

Junior striker Riley Hoyer headlines Libby's returners. He led the conference in scoring last year and has two seasons remaining to make life miserable for opposing goalkeepers.

Neil Young (forward), Shay Miller (midfielder), Mike Schilling (midfielder) and Bob Beuskens (center defender) bolster a strong corps of seniors who look to take Libby to a new level.

The Loggers are so balanced that Wickstrom isn't sure where his team's strength lies. Libby has quality players at every position and its depth is spread evenly across grade levels.

Hoyer's return hints toward a potent offensive attack for the Loggers, but Wickstrom is cautiously optimistic.

"I hope that's the case, but (Hoyer) has made himself a marked man," Wickstrom said.

But if defenses swarm Hoyer, Wickstrom says there should be plenty of opportunities for Libby's other players to rack up goals.

Aaron Frohnmayer inherits a girls program looking to improve upon its first-round playoff loss last year.

Frohnmayer, 34, brings a wealth of soccer experience to the Loggers. He played at Colorado College from 1990-92 and was an assistant at Southern Oregon University in 2002. Most recently, Frohnmayer coached the Bozeman Blitz club team. He is a second-year art teacher at Troy High School.

Frohnmayer will experience the benefits and struggles of youth in his debut season.

"We're a real young team," Frohnmayer said. "We're looking at eight freshmen and six sophomores, so more than half of our team is underclassmen."

Despite its youth, Frohnmayer expects Libby to excel in at least one respect.

"What you're going to look for in this team is just a really strong defense," Frohnmayer said.

Sophomore defensive players Christina Shilling, Brittany Martin and Nicole Lapka, as well as freshman Audra Poppen, will highlight Libby's defense for years to come.

The Loggers also return some quality seniors, including Melissa Kehn (forward) and Tiffany Casey (midfielder/forward).

Though the Loggers will need time to master Frohnmayer's Brazilian-style system of short passes and diagonal movement, Frohnmayer isn't counting them out this season.

"I think we'll score some goals," Frohnmayer said. "I am looking for a winning season and a return to the playoffs."

The Loggers played Belgrade Friday and battle Livingston today.

Polson

The boys snuck into the playoffs last year and fell to Billings Central in the first round. But second-year coach Jess Kittle returns several players from last year's 3-7-3 squad and welcomes some talented newcomers who should combine to make the Pirates more competitive this season.

Key senior returners are Alex Schwab (defender), Dane Huyser (midfielder), Josh Browne (wing), T.J. Andrews (wing) and Luke Potter (midfielder).

"(Potter) is a quiet kid, but, boy, he always comes to play and gets the job done," Kittle said.

Junior defender Andy Manley is also back to bolster Polson's defense.

The Pirates will struggle to replace graduated all-state goalkeeper Adam Eraky, but two foreign exchange students join Polson and Kittle says they will contribute greatly. Senior midfielder Mauricio Duplat joins the Pirates from Columbia while junior defender Recep Yamam arrives from Germany.

According to Kittle, Polson's strength will be its teamwork and cohesiveness.

"We're really coming together as a team, functioning well as a unit," Kittle said.

The Pirates open Thursday at Libby before heading to Columbia falls to tangle with the Wildcats next Saturday.

Girls coach Lee Coble refused to discuss his team with the Daily Inter Lake.

Whitefish

The girls finished second in the Northern A division last season and advanced to the state championship game before falling to Belgrade, 1-0. The loss was hard to swallow for the Bulldogs (10-4-1) since they had tied Belgrade earlier in the year.

But Whitefish returns nearly its entire roster and is poised for another state-title run. Team chemistry should smooth any bumps in the road the Bulldogs face along the way.

"They seem to have really, really good relationships already," said 13th-year Whitefish coach Lini Reading.

That the Bulldogs work well together isn't a surprise. They've had plenty of time to become acquainted with each other while winning a lot of games.

Whitefish returns three seniors who earned all-state honors last year: Jen Joern (forward/midfielder), Amy Wright (defender) and Kirstin NallyMadigan (goalkeeper).

The Bulldogs also return a bounty of all-conference players, including seniors Alex White (forward), Carmel Johnston (forward/midfielder) and Sarah Clark (defender).

The boys had a strong team last year as well, finishing 8-3-1 while taking second place in the Northern A division. The Bulldogs lost to Corvallis in the first round of the playoffs - a team they beat 4-0 earlier in the year.

But Whitefish returns 11 players, including five starters. Coach O'Brien Byrd said the strength of his team is that they don't really have one dominant area.

"From the goalkeeper to the strikers, I think we're very well balanced," Byrd said.

Whitefish returns senior starters David Hobbs (goalkeeper) and Jimmy Deats (defense).

Returning junior starters are Shane Widdifield (midfielder), Alex Konopatzke (midfielder) and Tyler Gardner (defense). Gardner is Whitefish's lone returning all-conference player.

Byrd has 19 players on his roster and at least 15 of them will start at some point this season.

"We don't have a lot of star power, but this is the deepest team I've ever had to work with at Whitefish," Byrd said.