May's late goal lifts Flathead over Hellgate
MISSOULA — Alexa May scored in the 72nd minute to lift the Flathead girls soccer team to a 1-0 win over Missoula Hellgate Saturday.
Flathead coach Cory Wilson said Hellgate had a definite edge in possession, but May calmly finished when an opportunity arose to break the tie.
“Alexa kept her composure and finished it to the far post,” Wilson said.
Flathead goalkeeper Zoe Zander made 17 saves to keep a clean sheet.
“They controlled the tempo of the game for large quantities and had more chances,” Wilson said. “Zoe Zander had an amazing game in goal, really kept us in it and had some great plays in the back, as did the whole defense. They really withstood a lot of pressure in the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the first half.
“Our kids battled really hard and it was a great character win for them.”
Flathead (1-1) returns home on Friday with a game against Helena High at Kidsports Complex.
Flathead 0 1 — 1
Hellgate 0 0 — 0
F – Alexa May (unassisted), 72:00
Shots on goal – Flathead 10, Hellgate 22. Corner kicks – Flathead 4, Hellgate 4. Saves – Flathead 17 (Zoe Zander), Hellgate 6 (Claudia Wiesse). Total fouls – Flathead 3, Hellgate 5. Yellow cards – Flathead 2, Hellgate 1.
Columbia Falls 3,
Belgrade 1
COLUMBIA FALLS — The Wildkats scored three goals in the final 20 minutes to beat Belgrade in a nonconference matchup.
After trailing 1-0 at the half, Alexi Corbett fed a beautiful pass to Ellie Johnson in the 60th minute to even the score for Columbia Falls. Haley Purdy scored on a direct kick from 30 yards out to give the Kats the advantage 12 minutes later and Tavia Bechtel added an insurance goal in the 75th minute.
“We had one mistake and they got a PK on us,” Wildkats coach Greg Trenerry said.
“The girls battled and kept working hard and it worked for them.”
Belgrade 1 0 — 1
Columbia Falls 0 3 — 3
B - Miranda Cameron, PK, 24:00
C - Ellie Johnson (Alexi Corbett), 60:00
C - Haley Purdy (direct kick), 72:00
C - Tavia Bechtel (unassisted), 75:00
Shots on goal - Belgrade 8, Columbia Falls 18. Saves - Belgrade 8 (Kendall Bethke), Columbia Falls 4 (Andrea Getts). Corner kicks - Belgrade 1, Columbia Falls 5. Fouls - Belgrade 3, Columbia Falls 9. Yellow cards - Columbia Falls 1.
Bigfork 2, Libby 1
BIGFORK — The Valkyries bounced back from two previous defeats to down Libby in a Northwestern A conference game.
Megan Pancoast opened the scoring in the 16th minute and Mattison McAnally gave Bigfork (1-2) a 2-0 lead with her goal in the 67th minute.
“The girls worked on their defensive strategy to get back in line and everything worked perfectly,” Bigfork coach Mike Marchetti said. “They held in there, didn’t let the two defeats keep them down and they came back fighting.”
Libby scored its goal in the 70th minute.
Libby 0 1 — 1
Bigfork 1 1 — 2
B - Megan Pancoast (unassisted), 16:00
B - Mattison McAnally (Ashley Hauss), 67:00
L - name not available, 70:00
Shots on goal - Libby 7, Bigfork 21. Saves - Libby 13 (Dannie Hawthorn), Bigfork 6 (Celeste Rehbein, Alyssa Beach-Wallen). Corner kicks - Libby 0, Bigfork 3. Fouls - Libby 4, Bigfork 5. Yellow cards - none. Red cards - none.
Polson 2, Livingston 0
POLSON — Tiara Duford scored one goal and assisted the other as Polson (2-1) earned a nonconference win over Livingston.
Keely Clairmont netted Polson’s first goal in the 35th minute. Duford’s goal came in the 55th minute.
Livingston 0 0 — 0
Polson 1 1 — 2
P – Keely Clairmont (Tiara Duford), 35:00
P – Duford, 55:00
Shots on goal – Livingston 7, Polson 9. Corner kicks – Livingston 3, Polson 1. Saves – Livingston 8 (Olga Mogen), Polson 4 (Monica Cleveland). Fouls – Livingston 1, Polson 3. Yellow cards – none. Red cards – none.
Stillwater Christian 8, Chrysalis 0
Heather Bach scored twice and McKenzie Hemp had two assists as Stillwater Christian (2-2) battered Chrysalis.
Kathryn Jentz opened the scoring in the 17th minute and Bach scored her first goal 10 minutes later. Bach added her second goal in the 32nd minute and the Cougars led 3-0 at the half.
Amanda Gerard, Serena Koch, Dani Stoner and Ashley Tang scored in the second half.
“The game was pretty evenly matched until the 17th minute when senior midfielder Kathryn Jentz scored the match’s first goal with a powerful 25- yard goal from a drop pass from Serena Koch,” Stillwater coach JR Hemp said. “We took control in the second half with good possession.”
Chrysalis 0 0 — 0
Stillwater 3 5 — 8
S - Kathryn Jentz (assist Serena Koch), 17:00
S - Heather Bach (Karley Conrad), 27:00
S - Bach (unassisted), 32:00
S - Amanda Gerard (unassisted), 41:00
S - Koch (McKenzie Hemp), 43:00
S - Dani Stoner (PK), 47:00
S - Chrysalis own goal
S - Ashley Tang (Hemp)
Shots on goal - Chrysalis 2, Stillwater 36. Saves - Chrysalis 13, Stillwater 2.
Boys
Columbia Falls 3,
Belgrade 2
COLUMBIA FALLS — Quentin Foust’s aerial prowess helped Columbia Falls to a nonconference win over Belgrade.
Foust headed in a corner kick from Casey Burghduff to give the Wildcats an early lead in the 13th minute, then nodded in another Burghduff corner in the 73rd minute for the game-winner.
“Quentin’s just a sneaky little player,” Columbia Falls coach Peter Browne said. “It was good to see him connect a couple times.”
Caleb Baumann scored Columbia Falls’ second goal in the 38th minute to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead at the half. Belgrade’s Chris Bratten had an equalizer in the 69th minute.
“It was a really good high school soccer game,” Browne said.
“It was just an excellent team effort by Columbia Falls. We kind of stuck to our starting 11 and the kids gave it their all.”
Columbia Falls goalkeeper Mason Gedlaman had eight saves.
“Mason came up huge for us,” Browne said. “About five of those saves were one-on-ones. But bottom line, it was an enormous team effort. It was very gratifying.”
Columbia Falls (1-1) plays at Laurel on Friday.
Belgrade 1 1 — 2
Columbia Falls 2 1 — 3
C - Quentin Foust (assist Casey Burghduff), 13:00
B - Grant Jordan (Kyler Linten), 31:00
C - Caleb Baumann (Bailey Griffith), 38:00
B - Chris Bratten (unassisted), 69:00
C - Foust (Burghduff), 73:00
Shots on goal - Belgrade 7, Columbia Falls 14. Saves - Belgrade 6 (Clay Bouch), Columbia Falls 8 (Mason Gedlaman). Corner kicks - Belgrade 3, Columbia Falls 3. Fouls - Belgrade 6, Columbia Falls 7. Yellow cards - Columbia Falls 1. Red cards - none.
Bigfork 3, Libby 3
BIGFORK — Bigfork’s Tyler Zavala scored with just seconds remaining on the clock to secure a tie against Libby and keep the Vikings’ season-opening unbeaten streak alive.
Zavala scored the last of three goals for the Vikings in the second half to even the score. Older brother Jorge Zavala scored the opeing goal of the half in the 45th minute and Bigfork picked up an own goal to get within a score.
Libby opened up an early lead with a goal from Johnny Davidson in the 28th minute. Davidson scored again in the 62nd minute to stretch the Loggers’ lead to 3-1 following a Jason Schnakenberg goal 12 minutes earlier.
“We played flat,” Bigfork coach Bill Buxton said.
“It was our third game in five days. That exhaustion came to roost in the game today, with the heat. They didn’t give up. They fought back and fought back. To their credit they never gave up until the dying seconds of game.”
The late goal kept Bigfork’s unbeaten start alive. The Vikings are 1-0-2 to start the season.
Libby 1 2 — 3
Bigfork 0 3 — 3
L — Johnny Davidson, 28:00
B — Jorge Zavala, 45:00
L — Jason Schnackenberg, 50:00
L — Johnny Davidson, 62:00
B — Libby own goal, 66:00
B — Tyler Zavala, 80:00
Shots on goal - Bigfork 6, Libby 10. Saves - Bigfork 7 (Dillon Hilling), Libby 4 (Jacob Wood). Corner kicks - n/a. Fouls - n/a. Yellow cards - Libby 1.
Missoula Hellgate 5, Flathead 0
MISSOULA — Kyle Higgins netted a hat trick as Hellgate routed Flathead (0-1-1).
All three off Higgins’ goals came in the first half.
Ryan Saler and Daniel Hawthorne added second-half goals for the Knights, who outshot the Braves 22-4.
Flathead 0 0 — 0
Hellgate 3 2 — 5
H – Kyle Higgins (assist Dan Hawthorne), 12:00
H – Higgins pk, 29:00
H – Higgins, 34:00
H – Ryan Sayler (Ian Oberbillig), 44:00
H – Hawthorne, 74:00
Shots on goal – Flathead 4, Hellgate 22. Corner kicks – Flathead 1, Hellgate 7. Saves – Flathead 13 (Parker Brixey), Hellgate (Chaucer Larson 2, Peter Byrne 0). Total fouls – Flathead 10, Hellgate 5.
Livingston 2, Polson 0
POLSON — Livingston gained an early lead when Daniel Newhouse scored in the second minute of a nonconference win over Polson (0-3).
Conner Amsk scored Livingston’s second goal in the 51st minute.
Livingston had a 5-3 edge in shots on goal.
Livingston 1 1 — 2
Polson 0 0 — 0
L – Daniel Newhouse (Hayden Cody-Jense), 2:00
L – Conner Amsk, 51:00
Shots on goal – Livingston 5, Polson 3. Corner kicks – Livingston 6, Polson 0. Saves – Livingston 3 (Cyler Cain), Polson 3 (Trevor Basler 1, Sam Moll 2). Total fouls – Livingston 8, Polson 8. Yellow cards – Livingston 1, Polson 1. Red cards – none.
Stillwater Christian 4, Helena Christian 0
Julian Edmond scored two goals and Joe King had a goal and three assists in Stillwater Christian’s conference opener.
The Cougars are 3-1 overall.
Helena 0 0 — 0
Stillwater 1 3 — 4
S - Julian Edmond (assist Joe King), 3:00
S - King (Edmond), 41:00
S - Edmond (King), 44:00
S - Peter Venman (King), 64:00
Shots on goal - Helena 4, Stillwater 16. Saves - Helena 12 (Dillon Monday), Stillwater 4 (David Willis). Corner kicks - Helena 2, Stillwater 5.