Bulldogs move on to semis in state soccer
WHITEFISH - The Whitefish boys soccer team continues to impress veteran coach O'Brien Byrd.
"What I love the most is we stuck to the game plan, stayed with the game plan the whole game," Byrd said after Saturday's hard-fought 5-0 Class A quarterfinal playoff victory over a stubborn Loyola Sacred Heart/Valley Christian squad.
"Where as a lot of teams would have been frustrated and would have strayed from the game plan, we remained calm, patient."
That strategy paid off as the Bulldogs eventually wore Loyola down, scoring four times during a nine-minute spurt with the match winding down.
Whitefish, however, had plenty of chances to put this one away early.
Just three minutes into play, a header by Casey Beiser hit the post.
Halfway through the first half, two more Whitefish shots ricocheted off the post.
"I hit one off the post," Whitefish junior forward Sam Donaldson said.
"We had a lot of chances.
"It was really frustrating getting all those chances and not scoring on them," he added.
"Everybody was a little nervous because this could be our last game."
Donaldson and Elior Rossi both scored two goals and Curran Edland accounted for the other one.
Rossi also assisted on two scores and Donaldson on one.
The flood gates opened, finally, with 20 minutes remaining. Donaldson scored on a penalty kick, and followed with another goal two minutes later.
Rossi assisted on both.
Goals by Edland and Rossi were next and were separated by just four minutes.
Up until that point, Loyola's keeper - Jason Englert - had stopped everything.
"Their keeper impressed us greatly," Byrd said.
"Loyola did, too. They had a good, competitive spirit and never gave up."
The shutout was the sixth of the season for Whitefish and keeper Thomas Clark, who had four saves.
The win was the 10th straight for the Bulldogs (11-2-0).
"I've been saying this the last five, six times ... we're improving, every game we're getting better," Byrd said.
"This was the best game of the season.
"We were patient, but lethal," he continued.
"We kept hammering at them."
Whitefish advances to the semfinal round next Saturday at Frenchtown. The Broncs upset Billings Central (9-2-1) 3-2 in Saturday's quarterfinal match in Billings.
Whitefish and Frenchtown (5-5-1) did not meet during the regular season.
Loyola 0 0 - 0
Whitefish 1 4 - 5
WHITEFISH - Elior Rossi (Sam Donaldson), 38:00; Sam Donaldson (Rossi), pk, 61:00; Donaldson (Rossi), 63:00; Curran Edland (Sean Janni), 66:00; Rossi (Edland), 70:00
Shots on goal - Loyola 2, Whitefish 17
Corner kicks - Loyola 0, Whitefish 5
Goalie saves - Loyola 12 (Jason Englert), Whitefish 4 (Thomas Clark)
Fouls - Loyola 10, Whitefish 10
Cards -Whitefish, 1 yellow
Frenchtown 3,
Billings Central 2
BILLINGS - Rodrigo Gama scored just three minutes into play and Manuel Tereza added two more as Frenchtown knocked off Billings Central.
Frenchtown led 2-0 at the half.
Frenchtown hosts Whitefish in semifinal play on Saturday.
Frenchtown 2 1 - 3
Billings Central 0 2 - 2
Frenchtown - 1, Rodrigo Gama (Michael Rebarchik), 3:00. 2, Manuel Tereza, 26:00. 3, Tereza (Quinn Pruitt), 64:00.
Billings Central - 1, Austin Trunkle (PK), 62:00. 2, Luke Daly (Conor Sheehy), 65:00. Shots: 20. Shots on goal: 12. Saves: 5 (Connor English 5).
Shots on goal - Frenchtown 8, Billings Central 12
Corner kicks - NA
Goalie saves - Frenchtown 10 (Blake Yarnall 10, Andrew Honken 1), Billings Central 5 (Connor English 5)
Fouls - NA
Cards - NA
Hamilton 3, Libby 1
HAMILTON - Talus Martin of Libby tied the match with a goal in the 31st minute, but Hamilton (10-1-2) responded with two more to defeat the defending state champs (4-6-3).
Hamilton dominated the statistics, 20-5 in shots on goal and 6-3 in corner kicks.
Libby 1 0 - 1
Hamilton 2 1 - 3
LIBBY - Talus Martin (Elias Lapka), 31:00
HAMILTON - Karill Apedaile, 20:00; Cody Tredik, 36:00; Own goal, 53:00
Shots on goal - Libby 5, Hamilton 20
Corner kicks - Libby 3, Hamilton 6
Goalie saves - Libby 2 (Rob Hamilton), Hamilton 3 (Niall Clancy).
Fouls - Libby 8, Hamilton 12.
Cards - Libby, 2 yellow, Hamilton, 1 yellow
Polson 1,
Livingston 0
LIVINGSTON - James Larson's goal in the 19th minute accounted for all the scoring as Polson moved on to the semifinals with the victory.
Polson (8-3-2) will play at Hamilton next.
Polson 1 0 - 0
Livingston 0 0 - 0
POLSON - James Larsen (John Murphy), 19th
Shots on goal - Polson 5, Livingston 16.
Corner kicks - Polson 3, Livingston 11. Goalie saves - Polson 13 (Peregrine Frissell 13), Livingston 4 (Kyle Lavendar 4).