Late goals lift 'Dogs to win over Stillwater

Whitefish 4, Stillwater Christian 1

The Bulldogs boys soccer team has an addition to their roster.

Freshman keeper Thomas Clark was awarded a varsity bag on Monday after he held the Stillwater Christian Cougars to just one goal in the cutthroat match — including an impressive save on a penalty kick in the closing minutes.

Clark was called up from the JV team to fill in for senior goalie Alex Whitaker, who is out for four games.

"Thomas made some big stops today," head coach O'Brien Byrd said after the game. "He stepped up and played like he wanted to be here. He's been great for us."

Clark tallied four saves in the match.

Stillwater played Whitefish tough for most of the game, only giving up one goal to the Bulldogs high-power offense in the first 60 minutes.

"This was the first time we've played Stillwater since I've been coach," Byrd said. "They are traditionally a strong team, so it was good to finally go up against them."

Whitefish found the net first when forward Curran Edland cleaned up a missed shot on goal by knocking a one-timer past the diving Stillwater keeper, Josh LeGassey.

The teams locked horns after the goal, as Stillwater stepped up its offensive intensity and put more pressure on Whitefish senior sweeper Matt Danczyk and keeper Clark.

The Cougars' pressure paid off when Ryan Thompson found the net in the 45th minute, scoring an unassisted goal after he dribbled through the gut of the 'Dogs' defense.

Moments later, in what appeared to be a game-shifting play, Stillwater blasted another shot into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead — but referees overturned the goal with an offside call, saving the Bulldogs from having to play from behind.

After the overturned goal the 'Dogs' defense, led by Danczyk, responded with a more aggressive style of play, and shut down Stillwater for the remained of the match.

With 21 minutes left in the game, Mark Stormes booted a goal in the right side of the net off a throw in, putting Whitefish ahead 2-1.

Cody Ling tacked on a third goal at the 66-minute mark and Travis Adams added another with three minutes on the clock.

"We're still fine tuning our style of play, but we are starting to click," Byrd said. "We're an attacking team and we're always looking to go for it."

Whitefish (3-2-0) hosts Polson on Thursday in what will be the team's second conference match of the season.

"Only two teams get into the playoffs from the conference," Byrd said. "It's going to be a big match for us."

Whitefish 3, Bigfork 1

The Bulldogs took down Bigfork on Thursday with a 3-1 win over the Vikings in a Northwest A match.

Whitefish found the net early in the first half off an unassisted goal by Matty McCrone at the two-minute mark.

Curran Edland added another point 14 minutes later with another unassisted goal.

Bigfork cut into the lead when Lael Richmond added a goal just before half.

But Whitefish put the game away just three minutes into the second half when Casey Beiser found the net, giving the 'Dogs a 3-1 edge.

Freshman keeper, Thomas Clark tallied six saves off six Bigfork shots. The Bulldogs posted 10 shots on goal for the match.