Polson Pirates soccer teams back into the playoffs
Both Polson soccer squads retained their third-seed status in the Northern A conference despite dropping their final week of regular schedule contests.
The postseason Pirate boys now travel to face the Eastern A champion Laurel Locomotives (10-2), who dispatched Polson 3-0 back in mid-September.
In that contest, Laurel netted an early goal, outshooting the Pirates 13 to 4 during the first half. The Pirate second half intensity made the contest more balanced despite Laurel netting two more insurance goals minutes apart.
The Lady Pirates have the tall task before them of attempting to counter the formidable firepower of Eastern A girls champion Billings Central Rams (11-1). If the contest were a matching of wits, the Lady Pirates would be able to hold their own. But matching up may be different matter.
Billings Central has played in the championship the past four seasons and holds claim to the State A title nine of the past 11 seasons.
The Lady Rams feature a fearsome threesome of Morgan Ferestad, Zoie Althoff and Solei Elletson, whose collaborative subtotal is more than twice the entire goal productivity of the Lady Pirates this season. Ferestad is the all-time prep leading goal scorer for the state of Montana with over a 100 tallies over the course of her career since she was a freshman.
The Lady Pirate main weaponry has revolved around the tenacious tandem of Sophia Moderie (17g,5a) and Autumn Burland (8g,2a).
Prep girls soccer
At Bigfork this past weekend, the visiting Lady Pirates may have outplayed and outshot the host Valkyries, but neglected to counter their hosts in one crucial aspect - scoring.
Bigfork 2, Polson 0
Polson (3-5n, 4-8), Bigfork (2-6n, 2-10)
Polson 0 0 – 0
Bigfork 1 1 – 2
B – g Brette Guenzler (fk) 6’
B – g B.Guenzler 68’
SHOTS (on-goal) – P sh ( sog), B sh ( sog)
SAVES – P (Jalynn Farmer , Lilly Armstrong sv), B 14(Nevaeh Carlin )
CKs – (2nd half only) P4ck ,B1ck. FOULS – na
indiv sh(SOG) – POLSON (2nd half only) 8(4) - Autumn Burland 3: wide51’,wide56’fk,wide58’; Ali Hupka (2):(46’)(72’); Sophia Moderie 2(1): (52’)wide73’; Tia Mercer (1):(61’). (Sa12Oct19)
Tactile function issues on iPad compromised first half data. Second half specs courtesy of Clara Todd.
Whitefish 9, Polson 2
Polson (3-4n, 4-7), Whitefish (5-2n, 7-4)
Whitefish 5 4 – 9
Polson 0 2 – 2
W – g Anna Cook (a Grace Benkleman) 14’
W – g Maya Lacey (a Josie Schneider) 17’
W – g Cook (a Benkelman) 18’
W – g Sophie Olson (a Benkelman) 22’
W – g Cook (header) 28’
P – g Autumn Burland (a Sophia Moderie) 46’
W – g Schneider* (a Taylor Gentry) 47’
W – g Emma Barron (a Olson) 53’
W – g Cook (a Schneider) 54’
W – g Olson (a Cook) 61’
P – g Burland (free kick) 77’
SHOTS (on-goal) – W25sh(19sog), P12sh(10sog).
SAVES – W 6sv (Sami Galbraith) 4k4h, P 7sv (Jalynn Farmer) 6h;
CORNERS – Whitefish 2, Polson 3; FOULS – Whitefish 5, Polson 0, Cards — None.
indiv sh(SOG) – WHITEFISH - W#12 Cook 6(4): wideL7’(g)(g)(xbar27’)hdr28’(g); W#13Olson 4(3):(g)ovr43’(51’)(g); W#14Schneider 3(2): 6’(12’)(g); W#16Lacey (1):(g); W#11Barron 3(2): ovr13’(43’)(g); W#2JosephineBrown (3): (10’)(31’)(41’); W#9SofieSaurey (1):(34’); W#19 (1): (post69’); W#7LucyLowry (1): (post78’); W#6 1:62’; noID (1):(32’). POLSON - Burland (4):(31’)(41’)(g)run(g) ; Moderie (1): (46’) ; Lilly Armstrong (5): (dk56’)(57’)(69’)(dk73’)(xbar75’); Jazlyn Dalbey 2: wideL38’,wide58’. (Th10Oct19)
Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) were alternate sources differ: Wfsh specs W23sh/P11sh, Wbk:W29sh, W8sv/P8sv; DIL: W9sv/P14sv DIL media Wg6 credit attributed to Josephine Brown
GKs: W (kkkhk|sshsssshhh), P (ssshhhhhb|sssh) h (handle), k (kick), b (block)
Prep boys soccer
In their regular schedule finale at Bigfork, the Pirates almost outshot the host Vikings by a 2 to 1 margin, but Bigfork’s Ben Pilskalns found a seam in the defense to tally the only goal of the contest.
Bigfork 1, Polson 0
Polson (3-5n, 4-8), Bigfork (3-5n, 4-8)
Polson 0 0 – 0
Bigfork 0 1 – 1
B – g Ben Pilskalns 44’
Shots (on-GOAL) – P 20sh(16sog), B11sh(5sog)
SAVES – P 4sv (Gabe Mergenthaler), B16sv (Caden Riedesel)
CORNERS – P4ck , B4ck. FOULS & CARDS na.
(Sa12Oct19)
Whitefish 5, Polson 0
Polson (3-4n, 4-7), Whitefish (7-0n, 11-0)
Whitefish 4 1 – 5
Polson 0 0 – 0
W – g Casey Schneider (a Ian Lacey) 5’
W – g Lacey (a Darby McCarthy) 15’
W – g James Thompson (a Lacey) 19’
W – g Thompson (a Chase Sabin) 20’
W – g Marvin Kimera (a Gabe Menicke) 67’
SHOTS (on-goal) – Whitefish 25sh(15sog), Polson 8sh(3sog)
SAVES – Whitefish 1 (Colter Upton 0sv2h, Bradlee Anderson 1sv2h), Polson 5sv (Gabe Mergenthaler)7h3k
CORNERS – Whitefish 7, Polson 0;
FOULS – Whitefish 13, Polson 9.
indiv sh(SOG) – WHITEFISH - Thompson 6(5): (18’)(g)(g)(61’P5Defl)wide65’dk(69’); Lacey 3(1): (11’P?Defl)shy42’,ovr63’; Kimera 4(2): (post34’)wideL37’hdr(g)wideR75’; Schneider 2(1): (g)side9’,behind10’; Sabin (2): (34’P?Defl)(35’P11Defl); Riley Arendt (1): (30’); Gabe Menicke 2(1): side22’(66’); Brandon Mendoza 1: wideL8’P11Defl; Sam Menicke 2: wideL4’,wideR23’; Aaron Dicks (1) :(30’P2Defl); noID (1): (69’P9Defl). POLSON 8(3) - Davis Smith 3(2): 1’(dk39’W14Defl)(dk73’wallDefl); Kaden Nelson 3(1): wideL6’,wideR56’(dk58’); Landin Zimmerer 1: wideR56’; Cade Lanier 1: wideR60’. (Th10Oct19) (SOG) tally includes Defender deflections (Defl) of shots taken on frame of goal
GKs: W (hh|hsh), P (hshhs|(k)hkkhbbhh) h (handle = pu by gk not sog), b (block = type of save), k (kick = like h, but w foot)
Wfsh specs: W10sog,W3sv, P7f