Class A soccer: Dogs roll in playoff openers

WHITEFISH — The Whitefish boys soccer team began its state title defense with a 5-0 win over Livingston in the first round of the Class A state tournament Saturday at Smith Fields.

Whitefish scored four goals in a 17-minute stretch during the first half and kept their defensive third clear throughout a physical second half.

Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd praised his back line of Jon Dittman, Addison Clark, Michael Reimer and Connor Gray for denying Livingston access to the goal area and preserving the shutout.

“This was the best game we’ve played all season,” Byrd said.

Whitefish (13-0-0) used its speed to burn Livingston (4-7-0) with a couple long balls early in the first half and the Rangers pulled their defense deep in response. The strategy worked to contain right winger Sam Donaldson, Class A’s leading scorer, but freed up Iaian Cameron to be a playmaker on the left wing.

“I have a really strong team around me, so it’s not hard to find guys checking to me,” Donaldson said. “The first half we used a lot of one-, two-touch passing, running it to the end line and crossing back along the goal face and using Iaian Cameron’s speed. Iaian is new this year to our team and he’s been a monster. He’s so fast it’s ridiculous.”

Cameron, a senior who played golf prior to this season, finished with three assists.

“Having Iaian is like having another Sam (Donaldson),” Byrd said. “He’s just as fast as Sam and it’s hard for teams to stop us when we have that kind of speed on both wings.”

Whitefish center forward Nathan Boone opened the scoring in the 13th minute on a play that started at midfield. Curran Edland played a long ball over the top to Boone, who slid a pass to Cameron on the left flank. Cameron took two touches and played the ball back to Boone, who fired a 20-yard strike past Livingston goalkeeper Quint Bishop.

Ten minutes later, Boone played a through ball to Donaldson, who stepped in front of a Livingston defender, took a touch around a charging Bishop and shot into the open net.

Whitefish added two more goals in the next seven minutes and went into halftime with a 4-0 lead.

Tommy Murphy nearly made it 5-0 in the first minute of the second half when Donaldson squared him a pass inside the 18-yard box, but Murphy blasted his shot off the post from 10-yards out.

Livingston played a more physical game in the second half, which led to some takeaways that allowed the Rangers to counter-attack, but Whitefish’s back line kept its composure.

“We knew they were going to get chewed out at the half,” Whitefish center back Dittman said. “Their seniors didn’t want it to be their last game, so they were coming out fired up. We just had to match their intensity, tackle hard and know that we had the skill to take them down.”

Dittman dispossessed Livingston forward Daniel Newhouse on a 54th-minute counter-attack and Livingston had another chance on a free kick in the 56th minute, but Tim Donahue’s lob was cleared by the Whitefish defense.

Edland netted Whitefish’s fifth goal in the 62nd minute.

The Bulldogs defeated Livingston 5-1 when the two teams met Sept. 7 in a nonconference game, but Donaldson and Dittman said they didn’t have the same familiarity with the Rangers as their conference opponents.

“We definitely have a lot more focus in our nonconference games because we don’t know what we’re up against,” Donaldson said.

“We played them in the preseason, so we kind of knew what we were dealing with, but it’s hard to say because they’ve had a bunch of games since we last played them,” Dittman added. “We knew the team we played now is a lot different from the team we played then, so we just had to know that we were going to play our best.”

Whitefish hosts Frenchtown in a state tournament semifinal on Saturday.

Livingston 0 0 — 0

Whitefish 4 1 — 5

WHITEFISH — Nathan Boone (Iaian Cameron), 13:00; Sam Donaldson (Boone), 23:00; Curran Edland (Cameron), 26:00; Boone (Edland), 30:00; Edland (Cameron), 62:00

Shots on goal — Livingston 4, Whitefish 21. Goalie saves — Livingston 5 (Quint Bishop), Whitefish 4 (Thomas Clark). Corner kicks — Livingston 1, Whitefish 6. Fouls — Livingston 11, Whitefish 13. Cards — None.

Girls

Whitefish 2,

Corvallis 0

Becca Holdhusen’s goal in the 2nd minute sparked Whitefish in its first round state tournament win over Corvallis at Smith Fields.

Whitefish (11-3-0) worked the ball deep in its offensive third shortly after the opening kickoff and Caroline Carbo played a cross through the 18-yard box. One Whitefish forward whiffed, but Holdhusen was waiting on the weak side and buried a shot from close range.

The quick goal gave the Bulldogs all the momentum they needed as goalkeeper Piper Greenwood made a couple big saves in the first half and Whitefish controlled much of the possession in the second.

“It really just pumped us up,” Whitefish midfielder Megan Danczyk said of the early goal. “We started out really strong and we knew that we could finish against them. We knew if we just kept it up we could finish with the win.”

“The first five minutes set the tone of the game, so to put that goal away was awesome for us,” Carbo added.

Whitefish nearly added to its lead in the 11th minute when Jessica Baldonado beat two Corvallis defenders on a run into the 6-yard box, but her shot went wide of the far post from a tough angle.

Corvallis forward Ayden Eickhoff got loose on a counter-attack a minute later, but Greenwood ran off her line and smothered the shot.

Corvallis (5-7-1) had another opportunity on the counter in the 40th minute, but Greenwood ran out and forced a wide shot.

Whitefish was in control the second half, maintaining possession in the middle third and working the ball to Danczyk and Janessa Courtney on the right flank. Corvallis kept the front of its net clear from the run of play, but Whitefish’s Susanna Hoglund arced a 25-yard free kick over goalkeeper Roxy Rademacher to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 in the 73rd minute.

“I think they came out on their heels (in the second half) being down 1-0 and were overrunning it,” Danczyk said. “We just stayed composed and played our passing game like we do.”

Carbo said Whitefish’s passing improved in the second half, which allowed the Bulldogs to limit Corvallis’ possession.

“We passed around them and it saved a lot of energy for us,” she said.

Corvallis’ last chance came on a 78th-minute corner kick, which Greenwood deflected out of bounds.

“We came out very strong and were able to put one up on them really fast,” Whitefish coach Wendy Farrens said.

“We just never ever let down. Hats off to everyone on our team for working hard for 80 minutes.”

Whitefish travels to Billings Saturday for a semifinal game against defending state champion Billings Central.

Corvallis 0 0 — 0

Whitefish 1 1 — 2

WHITEFISH — Becca Holdhusen (assist Caroline Carbo), 2:00; Susanna Hoglund, free kick, 73:00

Shots on goal — Corvallis 4, Whitefish 30. Goalie saves — Corvallis 18 (Roxy Rademacher), Whitefish 4 (Piper Greenwood). Corner kicks — Corvallis 3, Whitefish 4. Fouls — Corvallis 7, Whitefish 6. Cards — None.