Valkyries bring home first season win

The Valkyries soccer team finally got their first win of the season, beating their conference rivals the Lady Pirates on Thursday night in Polson, 4-1.

The score was tied at the end of the first half, 1-1, after Polson's Madeline Hewston got the first goal of the game in the 26th minute and Caitlin Charlebois got Bigfork on the board in the 34th minute assisted by Taylor McElroy.

"The girls started off pretty slow and had a rough first half, but they played a great second half and we really capitalized on the shooting opportunities that we had," said Hauna Trenerry, head Bigfork High School girls soccer coach.

Charlebois scored another goal assisted by McElroy at the 66th minute.

"They worked well up top together and played off of each other," Trenerry said of Charlebois and McElroy.

Charlebois completed her hat-trick with a goal off of a penalty kick three minutes after her second goal.

"Charlebois did a great job of pressuring their defense and she worked really hard to get her three goals," Trenerry said.

Bigfork's fourth goal of the game was scored by Jessica Killian with an assist by Kaitlyn Shults at the 72-minute mark. The goal was Killian's first of her high school career.

Although the Vals got the win by a sizable margin, it wasn't an easy victory.

"Polson did not back down at all and they really put the pressure on us," Trenerry said. "They didn't give up at all. They had quite a few shots and Danielle Morris (Bigfork) made some really great saves in the goal."

Morris had a total of 11 saves for the Vals and Jacie Morrison, Polson's goalkeeper, had seven. Bigfork took 14 shots on the goal and Polson took 12. The Lady Pirates were given four corner kicks and Bigfork had one.

This was the Vals first game without senior Lena Olson, who had scoliosis surgery last week. The loss of Olson added to an already troubling lack of players on the Bigfork team. One of the girls was sick this week, which left them without any substitutes so all of the girls had to play all 80 minutes of the game.

"I am really proud of the girls for playing the entire game," Trenerry said. "They left everything on the field."

The Bigfork girls team did gain a player prior to the game against Polson. Sam Moore, a freshman, was added to the roster.

"It was her first high school game ever and she stepped it up and played really hard," Trenerry said.

The addition and loss of girls led to McKinze Shults taking on the position of center-mid fielder for the first time. Trenerry credited McKinze and her sister Kaitlyn Shults for doing "a really good job of controlling the ball in the middle of the field and getting the ball up to the forwards."

Trenerry also said she was impressed with Quinci Paine's ability to hold down the back field while being a leader on the defense.

Bigfork's short bench means that even the freshman girls are getting a lot of playing time, which Trenerry said they are using well.

"My freshman Danielle Keeler had her best game this season at defense and Jennifer Kriskovich played a great game at outside-mid. It's pretty awesome for them as freshmen to not only be on a varsity team, but start and play every minute of every game, and they do a great job. Kenna (Hauns' was sick, so she wasn't at the game, but we missed having her out there."

On Tuesday Bigfork traveled to Whitefish to take on the Lady Bulldogs and those results will be in next week's Eagle along with the outcome of their game this Saturday, Oct. 3, in Libby. The Vals will host Columbia Falls next Tuesday, Oct. 6.

"I hope that we can continue to work as a team and win some more games," Trenerry said. "The girls are doing an amazing job of keeping themselves in every game and playing their hearts out. I told them that we may not have the numbers, but we have the heart and that is what wins games."