State bound
The Daily Inter Lake
BELGRADE - The Lady Bulldogs are headed to the state championship soccer game.
The Whitefish High School girls soccer team edged Belgrade in a shootout Saturday to win its Class A semifinal match 2-1 and punch its ticket to the championship game at Billings Central next Saturday.
The Lady Bulldogs were host to Belgrade in last year's championship game, which the Panthers won 1-0 on a goal by Lauren Hager. Hager threatened to end Whitefish's season again when she scored in the eighth minute, but Whitefish senior Carmel Johnston scored a beautiful goal off Jen Joern's assist in the 73rd minute to force overtime.
Johnston had her back to Belgrade goalkeeper Emily Schmidt when Joern fed her the ball at the top of the goalie box. Johnston turned and fired the ball with her left foot past a diving Schmidt.
After 20 minutes of scoreless overtime, Whitefish won a coin toss and chose to take its five penalty kicks after Belgrade in an alternating format. Hager and Emily Lynn scored for Belgrade in the shootout, but Kylee Smith and Kirstin NallyMadigan answered for Whitefish, giving Johnston a chance to win the game with Whitefish's final shot. Johnston scored to send Whitefish to its second-consecutive title game.
"Obviously we're really psyched about that," said 13th-year Whitefish coach Lini Reading. "Our goal all year has been (to play) 15 games and we reached it and now the icing on the cake would be to win."
Whitefish (12-2) would finish with the best record in team history if it beats Billings Central. More importantly, it would capture its second Class A championship.
Reading said Belgrade is the fastest team in the state and the game was as tight and competitive as she had expected.
"Everything was pretty darn even, we had momentum both ways," Reading said. "It was definitely a possession battle, a battle in the midfield up and back for a large part of the game."
The Lady Bulldogs negated Belgrade's speed by controlling the middle with central defenders Sarah Clark, Kelsey McCluskey, Megan Powell and Amy Wright.
According to Reading, the Lady Bulldogs thought if they were going to give up a goal it would likely come on a breakaway, but Hager scored when Whitefish missed its defensive marks. Hager is Smith's cousin.
Whitefish has lost most of its games in the last few years when the opposing team scored first, but the Lady Bulldogs didn't panic when they fell behind.
"It was 'Take the ball out of the net, put it on the line, let's go - next one's ours,'" Reading said.
Whitefish failed to notch its 11th shutout of the season, but wins all count the same in the postseason.
"I'm just really proud of the kids - the kids who played and the kids who didn't - I'm proud of them all," Reading said.
Whitefish 0 1 0 0 (3) - 2
Belgrade 1 0 0 0 (2) - 1
Belgrade - Lauren Hager, 8:00
Whitefish - Carmel Johnston (Jen Joern), 73:00
Shots on goal - Whitefish 18, Belgrade 16
Corner kicks - Whitefish 4, Belgrade 9
Goalie saves - Whitefish 8 (Kirstin NallyMadigan), Belgrade 13 (Emily Schmidt)
Total fouls - Whitefish 7, Belgrade 5
Cards - None
Bulldogs rally for title shot
The Daily Inter Lake
CORVALLIS - The Bulldogs relived a nightmare for 40 minutes, but regrouped at halftime to sustain their state championship dream.
The Whitefish High School boys soccer team fell behind early Saturday, but scored two goals in the second half and four more in overtime to beat Corvallis 6-2 in a Class A semifinal match.
The Blue Devils beat Whitefish 3-1 in last year's quarterfinals, even though the Bulldogs unleashed 22 shots against them. It was more of the same during Saturday's first half as Whitefish fired five shots off the goalpost, missed a penalty kick and trailed 2-0 at halftime.
Colin Campbell stymied Whitefish as Corvallis' goalkeeper last year, but a shoulder injury kept him from minding the net Saturday. It didn't keep him from tormenting Whitefish, however, as Campbell scored in the fourth and 16th minutes.
"It was deja vu," said fourth-year Whitefish coach O'Brien Byrd. "(The Blue Devils) scored on their first two real opportunities, just like last year.
"It was like it wasn't meant to be and then I was just proud of the kids to be so resilient, make the adjustments at halftime and come back."
Giuliano Tassara Levy missed Whitefish's quarterfinal win against Billings Central last week with a red card suspension, but he scored the first goal of the second half and the first goal in overtime.
"He got his mind right and came back in and was an immediate impact," said Byrd of Tassara Levy. "When we scored that first goal, our team knew, and it seemed that maybe Corvallis knew, 'That's it, the fairytale's over.'"
Shane Widdifield scored a clutch goal on a penalty kick in the 60th minute to tie the game and force overtime. Preston Taylor, Jonas Magstadt and Patrick Jones scored a goal each in overtime. Jimmy Deats and Jake Danczyk had assists for Whitefish.
"The biggest thing was a mental change," Byrd said. "We actually told the guys to clear their heads and forget about the first half altogether and start from scratch and begin to play our game."
Whitefish goalkeeper David Hobbs made 12 saves, but Corvallis made the most of its scoring opportunities, just as it did last week in beating Livingston with one shot and last year in beating the Bulldogs with six.
"They're a counter-attacking team and their two goals were just picture-perfect counter-attacking goals," Byrd said.
Whitefish hadn't trailed all season. The last time the Bulldogs fell behind was last year, against Corvallis.
"It's good for the kids to know that coming from behind is all a mentality and I think it's very good timing," Byrd said. "It was a fun, competitive game. It would be no fun to go down there and beat (Corvallis) 6, 7-0. We were behind and had to dig down super deep."
Whitefish (14-0) looks to cap a perfect season when it visits Hamilton for the state championship next Saturday. The Broncs (13-1) advanced to the final by beating Columbia Falls in a shootout Saturday.
Whitefish 0 2 1 3 - 6
Corvallis 2 0 0 0 - 2
Whitefish - Giuliano Tassara Levy (Jimmy Deats), 45:16; Shane Widdifield, 59:30; Tassara Levy, 82:00; Preston Taylor, 91:00; Jonas Magstadt, 99:00; Patrick Jones (Jake Danczyk), 100:00
Corvallis - Colin Campbell, 3:36; Campbell, 15:06
Shots on goal - Whitefish 30, Corvallis 7
Goalie saves - Whitefish 12 (David Hobbs), Corvallis 20 (Danny Gates)
Total fouls - Whitefish 12, Corvallis 13
Yellow cards - Whitefish 1, Corvallis
Red cards - Whitefish 0, Corvallis 1