Class A soccer playoffs: Whitefish wins wild opener against Frenchtown
<p>Whitefish's Katie Blankenship knocks in the ball to tie the score at 2-2 early in the second half against Frenchtown on Saturday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Whitefish's Katie Blankenship knocks in the ball to tie the score at 2-2 early in the second half against Frenchtown on Saturday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Whitefish's Cassidy Grady (4) and Katie Blankenship celebrate after Blankenship tied the game against Frenchtown. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
WHITEFISH — When 80 minutes of regulation soccer followed by two 10-minute overtime periods finally came to a conclusion on a warm, sunny Saturday at Smith Fields, Whitefish coach Roland Benedict put his hand to his heart to make sure it was still there.
“I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest,” Benedict said after Whitefish (10-3-1) survived with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the Broncs (7-4-0) in a first-round girls matchup.
“It was a nail-biter.”
From start to finish, it was that kind of afternoon on the pitch with Whitefish going toe-to-toe with a very talented and speedy Frenchtown squad.
Frenchtown was in an attack mode, pushing the pace and thereby keeping Whitefish on the defensive for the majority of play.
“We have a high pressure, fast attack,” Frenchtown coach Phil Baker said.
“We have a lot of speed with our forwards (seniors Abigail Teagle and Brooke Yarnall).”
And the Broncs capitalized on that.
Teagle scored three goals with Yarnall assisting on two.
Pilar Field assisted on the other Teagle score.
“A lot of our chances didn’t work out today,” Baker said.
“But I’m happy with the way the team played. It could have gone either way. Whitefish was a tough opponent.”
The statistics favored Frenchtown.
The Broncs had 18 shots on goal to 12 for Whitefish.
Frenchtown totaled five corner kicks to Whitefish’s four.
Frenchtown had seven fouls, half as many as Whitefish.
And both keepers were challenged.
Frenchtown’s Shelby Shourds had seven saves compared to a busy and battle-tested Kess Nelson, who wound up with 17 for Whitefish.
“When you have a player like Abby (Teagle), she’ll get looks on goal,” Benedict said.
“We knew that. I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a 2-0 or 3-0 game. I figured there would be lots of goals on both sides.”
Whitefish scored first off the foot of Anna Peterson in the 19th minute.
Frenchtown followed with Teagle goals at 23 and 37 minutes for a 2-1 halftime lead.
Whitefish struck quickly in the second half. Katie Blankenship netted an off-balanced shot just a minute into play and Haley Nicholson connected on a penalty kick six minutes later to put Whitefish back in front, 3-2.
Teagle then scored in the 60th minute to tie it back up.
The Broncs came close down the stretch, but shots were either stopped by Nelson or were wide right and left or off the crossbar.
Nicholson’s goal from the top of the 18 on the right side was the difference maker in the first overtime period. Her shot was low and drilled to the far post.
“I looked up and saw where their goalie was,” Nicholson said.
“I knew I was going to touch it with the right angle. I knew I could get it in.”
Nicholson was not much of a factor in the early going, but like she has all season, responded when the time was right.
“It was an all or nothing game,” she said.
“I do like those. I like the pressure.”
Nicholson was very impressed with the Broncs.
“It caught us off-guard a little bit,” she said of their attack.
“They had good skills.”
But she had confidence in her teammates.
“Our defense and center backs, I have so much trust and faith in them,” she said.
“And our keeper is stellar.”
Benedict was equally impressed with the defensive effort.
“Lexie Carbo and Pixie Moore were outstanding,” he said.
“They have been asked to defend the best players on every team all year long and have done just that.”
Nicholson said her team never panicked at any point during the match.
“Hitting the wall of being tired,” she said was more of a concern as the match wore on.
“But our coach always tells us we have more gas in our tank. You can go harder.”
The victory advances Whitefish to semifinal action on Saturday at Billings Central (10-0-1). The Rams won their first-round match with visiting Corvallis (4-8-1) on Saturday 5-1.
“It’s all about how you respond to being scored upon,” Benedict said.
“We showed true character on the soccer field. We showed making mistakes is OK as long as you learn from them and continue to get better. It was awesome.”
Frenchtown 2 1 0 0 — 3
Whitefish 1 2 1 0 — 4
W — Anna Peterson (Julia Houston), 19:00
F — Abigail Teagle (Pilar Field), 23:00
F — Teagle (Brooke Yarnall). 37:00
W — Katie Blankenship (Mellissa Pollard), 41:00
W — Haley Nicholson, pk, 47:00
F — Teagle (Yarnall), 60:00
W — Nicholson (Pixie Moore), 86:00
Shots on goal — Frenchtown 18, Whitefish 12; Goalie saves — Frenchtown 7 (Shelby Shourds), Whitefish 17 (Kess Nelson); Corner kicks — Frenchtown 5, Whitefish 4; Fouls — Frenchtown 7, Whitefish 14; Cards — None.
—————
Billings Central 5, Corvallis 1
Corvallis 1 0 — 1
Billings Central 3 2 — 5
BC — Mariah Wittman (Julianna Arellano), 1:00
BC — Olivia Hanser (Wittman), 8:00
BC — Wittman (Annie Seybert), 13:00
C — Corinne Sanderson, 29:00
BC — Jill Hardenbrook (Wittman), 49:00
BC — Wittman (Josie Snyder), 71:00
Shots on goal — NA: Goalie saves — Corvallis 11 (Kira Doyle), Billings Central 1 (Venton Arce); Corner kicks — NA; Fouls — NA; Cards — NA.