Net knows naught numbers or ties that bind
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PREP Boys SOCCER
Although the Pirates have yet to win a soccer game at this juncture, they still remain alive in a mathematical sense of securing a third-seed berth in the playoffs. In order for such a scenario to come to fruition, they must first win their final two games AND then Libby must lose both of their remaining matches. Assuming the numbers have been crunched with due diligence, Polson would mathematically tie Libby. Tiebreaking rules would then benefit Polson by virtue of the pair of draws against both Whitefish as well as Bigfork.
Polson 0, Bigfork 0
In an unprecedented second game in a row, the Polson Pirates held their opponent to a scoreless tie. Coach Jess Kittle considered this second installment of the annual “battle of the bays” to be one of the best games the Pirates have played thus far this year. Both the midfield as well as defense played well. Coach Kittle acknowledged instrumental contributions by Alex Helgeson, Jaben Wenzel, Spencer Raymond, Sutton Kanta, Jonah Kasnitz and Linde Lambson in securing possession of the ball and moving it up the field with a quick tempo passing game. Polson held the edge in corner kicks 4-1. Goalkeeper Trevor Basler made some critical stops, blocking several rockets launched by the feet of Bigfork attackers. Polson (0-3-3, 0-7-3) hosts CFalls Thursday and travels to Libby Saturday.
Polson 0 0 – 0
Bigfork 0 0 – 0
Shots on goal – Polson 6, Bigfork 5.
Saves – Polson 5 (Trevor Basler), Bigfork 6 (Ben Russell).
Corner kicks – Polson 4, Bigfork 1.
Fouls – Polson 9, Bigfork 8.
Yellow Cards - Polson 1, Bigfork 1
Bf var - sog P3B6, sv P3B3, f P5B5
(Sa04Oct14bsc)
Whitefish 0, Polson 0
At Polson, the Pirates completed a Northern A historic first when they played the visiting Bulldogs to a scoreless draw, the second time this season, or any other for that matter, in which the matchup between these two teams has ended in a tie. The only other scoreless draw dates back to their September meeting of the 2009 season. The game was more physical than finesse oriented, marred by 19 fouls almost equally distributed between both clubs. Key factors underlying the forging of this tie with league leading Whitefish was the stellar play of several Polson players. Alex Helgeson arrested a run by Bulldog Taven Edland at about the 14 minute juncture that was shaping up to be big trouble if left unchecked. Pirate keeper Trevor Basler made several tough saves, none more critical than the deflection of a penalty kick by Walter Sobba at the 9 minute mark that could have changed the compexion of the game. Shortly thereafter, another key defensive gem involved Jonah Kasnitz swooping over to kick out the ball that had precariously perched itself in front of the Polson goal after a series of pinball caroms off several players after a Whitefish corner kick. Jaben Wenzel also smothered several potent runs with intercepts. Polson (0-3-2, 0-7-2) next game is Saturday at Bigfork.
Whitefish 0 0 – 0
Polson 0 0 – 0
Shots on goal – Whitefish 14, Polson 6.
Saves – Whitefish 4 (Haven Gunderson), Polson 10 (Trevor Basler).
Corner kicks – Whitefish 9, Polson 2.
Total fouls –Whitefish 9, Polson 10.
Yellow card – Polson.
media var - sog W10P2, ck W7P2
Psog - unable to ID (38’), Jonah Kasnitz (76’), Mike Mercer (dk 78’).
P sht att - Andrew Hanson (wideR), Michael Vergeront 2 (over xbar, wide L), Spencer Raymond (wide L), Jaben Wenzel (wide R).
(Th02Oct14bsc)
Devils bruise Bucs Blue
Corvallis 8, Polson 0
At Polson, the visiting Blue Devils scuttled the Pirates before they could set sail. In a calculated strategy move, several veteran varsity players were rested during this nonconference game in anticipation of a pair of more crucial conference clashes later on in the week. Many younger contributors saw valuable action in their stead that will pay off dividends later on with the acceleration in their development. Polson (0-3-1, 0-7-1) tangles with Whitefish on Thursday.
Corvallis 5 3 - 8
Polson 0 0 - 0
Shots on Goal- Corvallis 19, Polson 8
Keeper Saves - Corvallis 6 (Shelby Gifford), Polson 10 (Russ Smith 8, Trevor Basler 2)
Corner Kicks - Corvallis 6, Polson 5
Fouls - Corvallis 6, Polson 7
Yellow Cards - Corvallis 1
(Tu30Sep14bsc)
MVCA over SCSJV
At Kalispell, the visiting Sting beat the host Cougar JV soccer squad, but no details were available at time of publication.
PREP Girls SOCCER
The Polson girls soccer team turned the equivalent of a hat trick last week by winning all three of their games. Their cumulative victories thus far match their total numbers of wins the team accrued all of last season with two more games remaining on the regular schedule, a Thursday home stand against visiting Columbia Falls and a road trip on Saturday to Libby. The Lady Pirates are assured of a playoff slot, although which variety remains to be determined. Both Polson and Whitefish are currently tied with identical 3-2-1 conference records, but the Lady Pirates hold the tie breaker by virtue of their first ever win over the Lady Bulldogs. Both teams trail Columbia Falls, which began last week undefeated at 4-0 in league. But in an unanticipated turn of events, both Bigfork and Libby held the Kats to a scoreless tie, leaving the door open for the Lady Pirates to remain in the hunt to potentially capture the booty of a Northern A conference crown. To do so will require a two tiered process: First of all, they must win both of their games this week. Secondly, they will need help from Whitefish, which travels over to Kat country and will have to do more than just scratch around in their sandbox. IF the Lady Pirates win both of their games AND Whitefish succeeds in hanging a loss on the Kats, THEN a Polson record of 5-2-1 would edge past a CFalls record of 4-2-2, handing Polson the crown for winning the conference.
Vals vanquished
Polson 4, Bigfork 0
At Bigfork, the visiting Lady Pirates cranked the gears up a notch in the second half to pillage this Northern A contest against the host Valkyries. After a scoreless tie forged during the first half of play, Polson coach Michael Hewston instructed his players to play more loosely and more up to their capabilities.
Linnea Madsen lit into a lick five minutes into the second period. Sarah Howell followed that up with a direct kick a little over ten minutes later. Howell then went on to dish a pair of assists thereafter to Tiara Duford, who T-ed off with her tally like a Terminatrix among cyborg lore, and JaNessa Taylor, who applied some G-force to net her first varsity goal.
Polson (3-2-1, 6-3-1) hosts the CFalls WildKats in a crucial conference clash on Senior Night Thursday, then travels to Libby on Saturday for the conference finale.
Polson 0 4 – 4
Bigfork 0 0 – 0
P – Linnea Madsen (a Tiara Duford) 45’
P – Sarah Howell (direct kick) 57’
P – Duford (a Howell) 72’
P – JaNessa Taylor (a Madsen) 80’
Shots on goal – Polson 16, Bigfork 7.
Saves – Polson 7 (Keely Clairmont), Bigfork 8 (Celeste Rehbein).
Corner kicks – Polson 5, Bigfork 3.
Fouls –Polson 5, Bigfork 3.
Bf var - sog P16B7, sv P7B8, ck P5B3, f P5B3
LP indiv sog - Howell 7, Madsen 3, Duford, Marina Mayorga, Olivia Hewston, rogue 3.
(Sa04Oct14gsc)
Polson 3, Whitefish 0
At Polson, area residents may have felt a minor tremor that rocked the Richter scale at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday that can be facetiously attributed to an apparent seismic shift in soccer polarity that resonated from its epicenter at the Polson Sports Complex. Sarah Howell unleashed a pair of goals that sandwiched a Tiara Duford T-off tally to collar the visiting Lady Bulldogs with their first ever loss to the Lady Pirates since the inception of prep soccer competition tracing back to 1997. As best as could be reconstructed, Whitefish held a 23-0 winning streak over Polson prior to this season in which the Lady Pirates reversed that preceding trend with a 1-0-1 performance in their two tangles this year. The win pulls the Lady Pirate conference record parallel to that of the Lady Bulldogs with Polson holding the tilt in a tiebreaker due to the win and draw. The victory was far from assured throughout the first half and part of the second with only a precarious 1-0 advantage against the always dangerous Dawgs. One of the most potent weapons among the Whitefish arsenal is sophomore Haley Nicholson, who also kicks PATs and FGs for the Whitefish football team on Fridays.
Nicholson almost tied the game at the 25 minute mark with a free kick, but her blast from about 20-some yards out flew high. Another sizzler came at about the 57 minute mark which Polson keeper Jenna Evertz deftly deflected to preserve the shutout.
One of the notable differences between this game and its predecessors is that it was Polson who pushed the pace of the attack, keeping the pressure on Whitefish whereas the trend had been more of the reverse in seasons past with Polson on the receiving end of the pressure.
Polson (2-2-1, 5-3-1) traveled to Bigfork on Saturday for their third game of a busy week.
Whitefish 0 0 – 0
Polson 1 2 – 3
P – Sarah Howell (a1 JaNessa Taylor, a2 Duford) 13’
P – Tiara Duford (a Howell) 53’
P – Sarah Howell (Tiara Duford) 76’
Shots on goal – Whitefish 5, Polson 9.
Saves – Whitefish 5 (Kess Nelson), Polson 4 (Jenna Evertz).
Corner kicks – Whitefish 4, Polson 5.
Fouls –Whitefish 2, Polson 1.
LP indiv sog - Duford 6, Keely Clairmont 2, Linnea Madsen 1.
(Th02Oct14gsc)
Polson 3, Corvallis 1
At Polson, the host Lady Pirates hung a pair of first half goals on the visiting Lady Blue Devils and shaped the tempo of the game thereafter to capture their third nonconference win of the season.
Sarah Howell opened the scoring with a goal off a feed from fellow senior Linnea Madsen.
Tiara Duford blasted another boot into the back of the box off an assist from Marina Mayorga a few minutes before intermission to stake Polson to a 2-0 lead. Corvallis answered with a Katelyn Frost tally less than five minutes into the second half. Duford countered with her second score two minutes later, a shot that deflected off the inside of the left sidepost into the net to maintain the previous margin until the close of the contest.
The Lady Pirates continued to hammer away with their offensive attack, outshooting Corvallis by a lopsided 25-7 margin.
One observer commented that he had never before witnessed so many shots ricochet off crossbars and side posts in a soccer match. One sequence had a trio of ricochets that happened one carom after the other, but Polson was unable to collect on a payoff. Howell had a couple of other doozies.
One was a corner kick with english that curled in the wind as it approached the goal, ricocheting off the side post away from the plane of the goal just a fraction of an inch from deflecting into the net.
Another shot on goal ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar midway across the upper frame of the goal. The Corvallis keeper ended up with the ball in her arms, but the kinetic force of the reverberation knocked her over backwards behind the plane of the goal.
Corvallis 0 1 – 1
Polson 2 1 – 3
P – Sarah Howell (Linnea Madsen) 14’
P – Tiara Duford (Marina Mayorga) 37’
C – Katelyn Frost (Katie Landis) 44’
P – Duford (unassisted) 46’
Shots on goal – Corvallis 7, Polson 25.
Saves – Corvallis 11 (Kayla Fields), Polson 7 (Jenna Evertz).
Corner kicks – Corvallis 3, Polson 4.
Yellow Cards – Polson 1.
LP indiv sog - Howell 7, Duford 6, Madsen 5, Mayorga 4, Keely Clairmont 2, JaNessa Taylor 1, 2 rogue (Tu30Sep14gsc).
SCS 4, MVCA 0
At Kalispell last Thursday, the host Lady Cougars of Stillwater Christian School prevailed over the visiting Lady Sting of Mission Valley Christian Academy of Polson. The Lady Sting showed remarkable improvement in play, essentially cutting in half the score last month when they lost to the Lady Cougars 8-1 on their home turf
MVCA 0 0 - 0
SCS 3 1 - 4
Shots on goal - MVCA 13, SCS 18
Saves - MVCA 13 (Rachel Maddy, Claire Hanke), SCS 7.
Corner Kicks - MVCA 2, SCS 2.