Vikings soccer keeps record even

The Bigfork Vikings soccer team split their conference matches last week, shutting out Columbia Falls on Sept. 15, 4-0, and losing to Libby 3-1.

In Columbia Falls, scoring was started by Alec MacCallum at the 21st minute and Luke Scrase added a second Bigfork goal a minute later.

"The team created quality opportunities and played their best match as a team this season," said Bigfork High School Head Boys Soccer Coach Keith Koslosky. "As a coach. you want to see that trend continue."

Six minutes into the second half, Lael Richmond put in the Vikings' third goal with an assist by MacCallum, who furthered Bigfork's lead in the 63rd minute with the team's fourth, and final, goal.

"It was nice to see Alec and Lael continue to contribute and distribute," Koslosky said. "Luke Scrase managed his first goal for the team while John Lyon, Shane Parks, Fabian Zavala, Austin Gordon and Austin Jordt entered the mix without results."

Bigfork's goalkeeper Nate Roberson was credited with the shutout. He had one save and Wildcats goalie Jacob Calderwood had 10 saves. Bigfork took 22 shots on goal while the Cats took just three.

"We had talked about how the team would play this match," Koslosky said. "The boys described the style in which they planned to play, which included coming out hard. They did, however, as you can see by the times of the scores, the payoff did not materialize right away. We did play hard from whistle to whistle with contributions from all quarters."

Thursday's home game against Libby did not go as well for Bigfork.

"Libby came out slow and we matched them," Koslosky said. "Libby controlled the ball in our half for the first five minutes. We then began taking control of the match yet were unable to get anything going early. As the match wore on, we seemed to tire somewhat and were caught flatfooted on several occasions."

The Vikes were the first to score when Richmond put the ball in the goal assisted by MacCallum.

However, their lead was taken away when Nick Reny scored at the 37th minute for the Loggers to tie the game.

Libby got the go-ahead point three minutes into the second half with a goal by Elias Lapka.

Cree Maloney sealed the Logger win with their goal off of a penalty kick in the 57th minute.

Libby took 16 shots on the goal and Bigfork took seven. Roberson had three saves for the Vikes and Lewis Brossman had two for Libby.

The Vikings, who are 2-2 in conference play, travel to Polson today and Whitefish next Tuesday.

"I continue to like our chances to participate in the post season," Koslosky said. "We are going to mix some things up moving players around this week in Polson. We need to involve more players in the attack while taking some of the scoring burden off Alec and Lael.

"Though we are thin in numbers, we are a capable and talented group, which needs to apply ourselves to the task each time we get together. We are athletic, skilled, physically fast, big, strong and fit. We match up well with all teams within the conference."