CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER

Polson soccer headed to state championship game

Sixty-six miles.

That's the distance between Whitefish and Polson, and right now it's the distance between the two best soccer teams in the entire state of Montana.

The Polson boys' soccer team, which started its season with a brutal two-a-day practice regimen that would crush lesser men, are finishing it exactly where they wanted it to be.

The state championship game.

"I'm so proud of these guys," Polson head coach Jess Kittle said. "They're the only team in the state to make the state semifinals two years in a row."

It's true. The teams that were in the state final four last year were either knocked out of the playoffs early or didn't make the playoffs this season. Last year, the Pirates were one crossbar call travesty from making the state championship game against a team they beat during the regular season.

This season? Polson knocked off the No. 1 team from the Southern conference, Hamilton, in a game that went into overtime last Saturday with a 1-1 tie and was settled with penalty kicks.

"We knew it was going to be pretty evenly matched," Kittle said. "We were pretty positive going in to play Hamilton again, we made a lot of changes from when we faced them in the first game of the season."

Polson tied Hamilton 2-2 on Aug. 30, so no team could claim the advantage going into the semifinal matchup. However, Polson has seen a lot of changes as a team since then.

"I don't think we are anything close to the same team we were then," Polson goalkeeper Clay "The Falcon" Frissell said. "We are like family out there now, we're so tight. I care for these guys, and I know we're all working for the same goal, and that's what motivates us. We're a different group of guys than we were back then."

Fittingly, James "The Lawman" Larson, the guy who's been a go-to offensive machine for the Pirates all season, scored in just the second minute of the game. Also fittingly, Jon "Megatron" Murphy used one of his masterful throw-ins to get the ball in front of the Hamilton goal and Larson was able to cash in.

Ten minutes later, Hamilton scored on a free kick outside of the 18-yard box to tie things up. The Broncs were able to pass the ball off and took a shot that wasn't cleared and they got it into the back of the net.

"It just kept ramping up in intensity the entire game," Kittle said.

Then... defense. Lots of it.

However, much like a poker player with an ace up his sleeve, Kittle had the ultimate trump card. Actually he had a few of them in the Pirates' defense.

While this year's team may have appeared to be an offensive powerhouse, geared up to outscore their opponents rather than stopping them from scoring - it was still a squad that posted the best defense in the state a year ago - meaning if they needed to make a stop, it was going to happen.

Frissell stopped a penalty kick in the second half, a play that Kittle said "saved their season."

With eight minutes left in the game, referees called a trip on the outside edge of the goal box that set up a penalty kick against the Pirates.

There stood Frissell, the veteran goalkeeper who had been so vital to Polson's success over the past few years.

"I remember watching the ball get placed on the mark by the player and seeing my team pushing for position at the edge of the box, ready to crash," Frissell said. "I looked over at the clock, saw the 7:40 ticking down and I knew I didn't want it to be the end of my teammates' and my own career."

The Falcon read the player and stone-walled the penalty kick to give Polson not just new life but put the seed of doubt in the minds of Hamilton's players.

"I think that really got into Hamilton's head after that," Kittle said.

Frissell said he was calm during the penalty kick and that it was definitely the biggest save of his career.

"I was ecstatic," Frissell said. "As was the rest of my team but we still had a game to play. We had seven minutes left and it was still tied at one, we had a game to win."

They played longer than that, as it stayed tied through regulation and then 20 minutes of scoreless overtime.

"Our guys didn't back down," Kittle said. "It was just real even the whole way through. It goes back to the old saying that defense wins championships and right now I love our defense."

In practice, Polson has been known to play several games of lightning (soccer's version of BUMP) to work on their shooting near the goals, and not just the forwards take part in it. Every player takes their kicks at the goal and that certainly showed in the penalty kick shootout against Hamilton.

"I had such confidence we were going to bury all our penalty shots," Kittle said. "I was shocked when the first one didn't go in."

Again taking center stage was Frissell, who had to face not one penalty kick but several of them.

"I was nervous at first. Then I went to the sideline with my team, and everyone was so supportive I knew that our road didn't stop here," Frissell said. "I wasn't going to let these guys down. These guys have been with me for years now, I wasn't willing to say goodbye yet, I knew they would take care of business on their end of the shots, and once I did my job we would be on top."

Hamilton hit the first shot and Polson missed its first shot, giving the Broncs an early 1-0 lead. In the second round of the penalty kicks, senior defender Nick "The Hammer" Howell tied things up for the Pirates.

"Nick put a very composed, strong kick past the keeper," Kittle said.

In the third round, Hamilton went wide left on their shot, although according to Kittle, that shot was "sizzling."

Larson put in his shot to give Polson the 2-1 lead.

"James came up as cool as a cucumber and he hit that ball so well that the kid in goal just didn't have a chance," Kittle said.

In the fourth round, Frissell again stopped a penalty kick and set up a possible game-clinching penalty shot for senior defender Caden "The Baron" von Wildenradt.

"The keeper went to his right and Caden put it pretty much down the middle," Kittle said.

Polson won the shootout and was headed to the state championship game.

"Indescribable," Frissell said. "I remember knowing we had it when he walked up to the ball, I was so confident in his shot. Every one of our guys taking shots I had confidence in, and I knew that they would capitalize. When Caden made the shot I was so pumped to finally be headed to a state championship, it was the ending of dreams, I couldn't have imagined it better."

In the playoffs this year and last, the Pirates have gotten where they wanted to go with defense. No team in the past two years has scored more than a goal against Polson in the postseason. Last Saturday was obviously an good example as Frissell put on a goalkeeping clinic.

"He had five penalty kicks (including the one in the second half) taken against him and only one of them scored," Kittle said. "That's pretty amazing. Clay was the MVP of the game."

The shootout last Saturday was the Pirates' first under the leadership of Kittle and with Frissell in goal.

"It was the first shootout of my career, and I was ready as I could be," Frissell said. "Coach [Mike] Moll always tells me the pressure's on the shooter, and I never realized how true that that was. When I was on the goal line getting ready for the shot, I knew my team believed in me and I had a job to do, and the best thing I could do was just stay calm, read the shooter, and do my best to get to the shot, and that's what I did. It worked out well for me, and they only made one shot out of four, I was very happy with the outcome of the game."

That outcome resulted in the celebration of the Polson soccer team and perhaps the culmination of something that has been coming together on the south shore of Flathead Lake.

"We just piled on Caden, I couldn't hear anything over the yelling for I don't know how long," Frissell said. "It was sweet! Everyone was so pumped, the coaches, the fans, but what was best was the team. We knew we could do it from the start, but to feel all of our hard work over the years pay off in that one second when Caden took his shot, it was the best feeling in the world. It was a great day."

POLSON 1, HAMILTON 1

Polson - 1 - 0 - 1

Hamilton - 1 - 0 - 1

Scoring

Polson - James Larson 2:00

Hamilton - Cody Tredik 12:00

Shootout

Hamilton won the coin toss

and shot first

Hamilton - 0 X X X - 1

Polson - X 0 0 0 - 3

Shots - Polson 13, Hamilton 19

Keeper Saves - Polson 9 (Peregrine Frissell), Hamilton 3 (Niall Gallagher-Clancy)

Corner Kicks - Polson 3, Hamilton 9

Fouls - Polson 12, Hamilton 15

Yellow Cards - Hamilton 1 Red Cards - none