Soccer roundup: Whitefish boys get revenge on Columbia Falls, Glacier loses twice to Hellgate

WHITEFISH — The season may not have gone quite as planned for the Whitefish boys soccer team, but the Bulldogs at least went out in style on Saturday.

Casey Ling scored two goals and assisted on another as Whitefish blanked Columbia Falls 4-0 in the regular-season finale.

“We had higher hopes,” first-year Whitefish coach John Lacey said.

“It was a good way to go out. It’s always better to go out with a win rather than a loss.”

It was also a payback of sorts for Whitefish, which lost the first Northern A matchup with Columbia Falls 6-4.

“The boys felt like they owed something to Columbia Falls after that last one,” he said.

Avery Hirsch and Taisuke Matsuo had the other goals for Whitefish (3-8-1 overall, 2-5-1 Northern A).

Whitefish closed the season with two victories.

“It ook us awhile to get to where we were playing the kind of soccer we thought we could play all along,” Lacey said.

“It was good to see the boys finish strong.”

He said Walter Sobba, a captain and midfielder, had another “strong game.

“He had a steady effort every single game,” Lacey said.

Columbia Falls advances to postseason play, which begins this week.

Columbia Falls 0 0 — 0

Whitefish 1 3 — 4

W — Casey Ling (Alex Mazzonetto), 20:00

W — Avery Hirsch, 43:00

W — Ling, 58:00

W — Taisuke Matsuo (Ling), 69:00

Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 6, Whitefish 13; Goalie saves — Columbia Falls 8 (Brandon Karberg), Whitefish 6 (Marty Anderson); Corner kicks — Columbia Falls 0, Whitefish 4; Fouls — Columbia Falls 7, Whitefish 11; Cards — None.

Hellgate 5, Glacier 0

MISSOULA — Glacier held Missoula Hellgate off the scoreboard for 33 minutes, but the Knights scored twice within two minutes to end the first half and added three more goals in the second half for the Western AA victory.

Hellgate led in shots on goal, 21-12, and corner kicks, 8-4.

Ryker McIntyre had 18 keeper saves for Glacier.

The Wolfpack end regular-season action at home with matches on Thursday and Friday with Helena High and Helena Capital.

Glacier 0 0 — 0

Hellgate 2 3 — 5

H — Aidan Fromm (Ben Willstein), 33:00

H — Own goal by Glacier, 35:00

H — David Kronner (Conner Cyr), 43:00

H — Kronner (Sam Carnes), 47:00

H — Andrew Moisey (Peter Vandam), 80:00

Shots on goal — Glacier 12, Hellgate 21; Goalie saves — Glacier 18 (Ryker McIntyre), Hellgate 11 (Peter Byrne); Corner kicks — Glacier 4, Hellgate 8; Fouls – Glacier 10, Hellgate 6; Cards — None.

Saint George 3, Stillwater 0

SPOKANE, Wash. —Saint George scored early, nine minutes into play, and late, 59 and 71 minutes, in defeating Stillwater Christian in a nonconference match.

Stillwater failed to score for just the second time this season.

“We were hurting a little bit this weekend,” Stillwater coach Ryan O’Rourke said.

“We had a couple guys who were sick and who are solid players for us.”

Despite not being at full strength, O’Rourke was pleased with the team’s showing.

“I’m happy with the way the guys fought today,” he said.

“They fought very hard.”

Stillwater (8-5) concludes regular-season play on Monday hosting Sandpoint, Idaho, at 4 p.m.

Saint George 1 2 — 3

Stillwater 0 0 — 0

SG — Botao Shan, 9:00

SG — Michael Hamilton, 59:00

SG — Mitch Ward, 71:00

Shots on goal — Saint George 18, Stillwater 2; Goalie saves — Saint George 2 (NA), Stillwater 15 (Daniel Fetveit); Corner kicks — Saint George 4, Stillwater 4; Fouls— NA; Cards — Stillwater, 1 yellow.

Girls

Columbia Falls 1,

Whitefish 1

WHITEFISH — Ellie Johnson scored in the 51st minute for Columbia Falls to tie the Northern A match with Whitefish in the regular-season finale for both teams.

The tie allowed Columbia Falls (8-2-2, 6-1-1) to captured the league title heading into playoff action.

Whitefish, the third seed, will face Polson, the No. 2 seed, in a postseason play-in match on Tuesday at Polson at 6 p.m.

“We got a goal early on,” Whitefish coach Roland Benedict said.

“Julia Houston had a great, classy one-on-one finish.”

That was 17 minutes into play.

“These are emotional games,” Benedict said of rivalry matchups.

“It’s all about hard work and physicality.”

Columbia Falls won the earlier matchup, 2-1.

“It got tight toward the end and they scored a goal,” Benedict said.

“(Columbia Falls keeper) Kess Nelson played injured for the last 10 minutes of the game with a sprained foot.”

Columbia Falls 0 1 — 1

Whitefish 1 0 — 1

W — Julia Houston (Haley Nicholson), 17:00

CF — Ellie Johnson (Hannah Gedlaman), 51:00

Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 18, Whitefish 8; Goalie saves — Columbia Falls 4 (Allyson Gimbel), Whitefish 13 (Kess Nelson); Corner kicks — Columbia Falls 11, Whitefish 2; Fouls — Columbia Falls 5, Whitefish 4; Cards — Columbia Falls 1 yellow, Whitefish 1 yellow.

Hellgate 2, Glacier 1

MISSOULA — Glacier struck early, scoring a goal in the sixth minute by Ellie Stevens, but Hellgate answered six minutes later and broke the tie with a goal at 74 minutes for the Western AA victory.

McKenzie Wingard scored both goals for Hellgate.

Shots on goal were few and far between with Hellgate holding a 6-4 edge.

Amy Braig had four keeper saves for Glacier.

Glacier had five corner kicks to just one for Hellgate.

The Wolfpack (0-8-2) ends regular-season action at home with matches on Thursday and Friday with Helena High and Helena Capital.

“The girls played hard,” Glacier coach Brenden Byrd said.

“We had amazing play from (center backs) Emma Schlotfeldt McKayle Dennehy. They fought the entire game and gave us a chance to get back in the game.”

Glacier 1 0 — 1

Hellgate 1 1 — 2

G — Ellie Stevens (Cadie Williams), 6:00

H — McKenzie Wingard, 12:00

H — Wingard, 74:00

Shots on goal — Glacier 4, Hellgate 6; Goalie saves — Glacier 4 (Amy Braig), Hellgate 3 (Claudia Wiese); Corner kicks — Glacier 5, Hellgate 1; Fouls — Glacier 6, Hellgate 3; Cards — Glacier, Stevens.

Bigfork 4, Libby 4

LIBBY — In a back and forth Northern A matchup, Bigfork and Libby battled to a tie.

Libby’s Anna Carlson completed the scoring with her game-tying goal at 72 minutes.

She also scored in the third minute and assisted on two more.

Annie Bergett had the other two goals for Libby.

Mattie McNally netted two goals for Bigfork.

Bigfork 2 2 — 4

Libby 3 1 — 4

B — Mattie McNally (Georgia Cleasby), 2:00

L — Anna Carlson (Danni Hawthorne), 3:00

B — Katie Thomas (Ally Pancoast), 10:00

L — Annie Bergett (Carlson), 14:00

L — Bergett (Carlson), 30:00

B — Haile Mirren (Pancoast), 45:00

B — McNally (Cleasby), 51:00

L — Carlson, 72:00

Shots on goal — NA; Goalie saves — Bigfork 3 (Cate Lynn Henion), Libby 10 (Shannon Reny); Corner kicks — Bigfork 4, Libby 4; Fouls — NA; Cards — NA.