Dogs, Pirates battle for title
The Bulldog boys soccer team is in the hunt for a conference title heading into their final two matches before playoffs.
Whitefish (7-2-1) sits at second place in Northwest A conference standings at 5-1, just behind Polson (7-1-1), who has yet to lose in league play.
Whitefish will get a shot at the Pirates on Thursday at home.
“There’s very little understatement in the fact that Polson this Thursday is the biggest game of the year,” head coach John Lacey said. “If we win and have a couple things break for us — yeah, we can win the conference title.”
Whitefish fell to Polson in a tight 2-1 battle Sept. 21.
“They were certainly one of the strongest teams we played all year,” Lacey said. “We want to score more than one goal — 1-0 won’t do it, we’re going to need several goals.”
On Tuesday Whitefish took down the rival Wildcats 3-0 in Columbia Falls.
Ian Lacey, Casey Schneider and Noah Romagnuolo all netted goals for Whitefish. Goalkeeper Colter Upton finished with two saves in the shutout.
“Great match, anytime those rivalry games come up there’s a bit of urgency to it and it’s a great environment,” Lacey said of the Columbia Falls match.
The Dogs continued to hit their shots Saturday in a 7-1 blowout of Libby.
Xander Burger, Romagnuolo, Ammann Koch-Ford, Schneider (2), Avery Hirsch and Lacey piled on the goals in that win.
The Bulldogs will also welcome Bigfork Saturday for senior day and the final match of the regular season.
Seniors on this year’s team are Eli Joos, Quinen Joos, Romagnuolo, Hirsch and Tait Workman.
“It’s a great group of boys who’ve given a lot,” Lacey said of his seniors. “I’ve kind of grown up with them, this is my third year and so most of my time has been with these group of guys.”
Whitefish 0 3 — 3
Columbia Falls 0 0 — 0
W — Ian Lacey (Sam Menicke), 54:00
W — Casey Schneider, 61:00
W — Noah Romagnuolo, 78:00
Shots on goal — Whitefish 9, Columbia Falls 18; Corner kicks — Whitefish 9, Columbia Falls 2; Goalie saves — 12 (Colter Upton), Columbia Falls 7 (Story Stemborski); Fouls — Whitefish 12, Columbia Falls 10; Cards — Whitefish, 2 yellow.
Whitefish 3 4 — 7
Libby 0 1 — 1
W — Xander Burger (Avery Hirsch), 10:00
W — Noah Romagnuolo (Burger), 17:00
W — Ammann Koch-Ford (Romagnuolo), 40:00
W — Casey Schneider (Quinten Joos), 45:00
L — Austin Swartzenberger, pk, 50:00
W — Hirsch (Q. Joos), 64:00
W — Schneider (Brandon Mendoza), 70:00
W — Ian Lacey (Schneider), 78:00
Shots on goal — Whitefish 21, Libby NA; Corner kicks — Whitefish 7, Libby NA; Goalie saves — Whitefish 1 (Bradlee Anderson), Libby 14 (Tyler Lucas); Fouls — Whitefish 2, Libby NA; Cards — NA.