Lady Dogs hope to get going against Bigfork

Poor air quality and long, unexpected travel plans made things tough for the Lady Dogs this weekend.

Whitefish dropped matches against Billings Central and Laurel in what was supposed to be a home series on Friday and Saturday. Poor air quality in the Flathead Valley had those games relocated.

“It was a tough quick turnaround,” head coach Roland Benedict said. “The previous weekend, being in Belgrade on the same trip, then not training outside, then finding out you have to go eight or 10 hours to go play again. It’s taxing physically to get off the bus and play, but we did it and played a really good game against Billings.”

Whitefish fell 5-0 to Billings in what was a closer game than the score indicates, Benedict said.

Billings led 1-0 going into the second half, but broke the game open with four goals in the second half for the win.

“We played better against Billings than we did against Laurel, but if you look at the scores you would think it was closer against Laurel,” Benedict noted. “It was even throughout the game, they were just able to get more shots on goal then we were, and that’s the area we need to work on.”

It’s been a slow start for the Lady Dogs (1-4), but Benedict noted it’s a slow process fitting the pieces together in Whitefish’s system.

“It takes a long time, it’s not learned overnight,” he said. “For me, the non-conference games, I don’t really have an opinion about winning and losing those games. The ones that matter are the conference games and getting into the playoffs.”

Whitefish hosted Columbia Falls Tuesday after presstime and will get a rematch against Bigfork on Saturday at 10 a.m.

The last time they took on Bigfork, the Lady Bulldogs came away with a win.

“We got some goals on the board. We had been training two-a-days for two weeks and we were real sharp,” Benedict said. “We’re just trying to get back to that level of confidence on the field and pick up a big win for the team and the community.”

Whitefish 0 0 — 0

Billings Central 1 4 — 5

BC — Zoie Althoff, 26:00

BC: Morgan Ferestad, 44:00

BC: own goal, 49:00

BC: Althoff, 56:00

BC: Chloe Paharik (Frankie Sindelar), 72:00

Shots on goal — Whitefish, 1, Central 16; Corner kicks — NA: Goalie saves — Whitefish 7 (Sami Galbraith), Billings Central 0 (Maggie Lyle); Fouls — NA; Cards — NA.

Stats were not provided for Whitefish vs. Laurel