Lady Dogs split opening week
Emma Barron lines up a kick during last Tuesday's loss to Columbia Falls. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Josie Schneider fights off a Wildkat during last Tuesday's loss to Columbia Falls. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Two Lady Dogs nearly collide for a header that would score their second goal during last Tuesday's loss to Columbia Falls. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Josie Schneider fights through the defense during last Tuesday's loss to Columbia Falls. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
The Lady Dog soccer team got their groove back on the Friday after dropping their opening match to Columbia Falls earlier in the week.
Anna Cook notched a pair of goals against Livingston-Park in Friday’s 4-2 road win.
After Park went ahead by a goal in the 14th minute, the Lady Dogs started to heat up.
Cook scored her first goal of the day six minutes later off a Josephine Brown assist. Then Josie Schneider added a goal in the 29th minute.
Cook closed out the first half with another goal in the 38th minute off a Schneider assist.
Park found the net again in the second half, with Malea Coleman notching her second goal of the day in the 52nd minute on a penalty kick.
Sofie Saurey put the finishing touches on Whitefish’s win, however, in the 72nd minute, scoring off an Adrienne Healy assist to seal the 4-2 win.
Whitefish had 20 shots on goal to Park’s 14. Goalkeeper Sami Galbraith recorded 6 saves to Park’s 9.
It was the win the team was looking for after a disappointing loss in the opener against the Wildkats on Tuesday.
Schneider was the Lady Dogs offense in the 4-3 loss. She put up a hat trick, with goals coming in the 12th, 35th and 69th minute, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the Kats’ own offense.
Josie Windauer of Columbia Falls scored a pair of goals in the first half to tie the score at 2-all. Windauer assisted on Madeline Robison and LaKia Hill goals in the second half to put her team up 4-2 until Schneider’s final goal in the 69th minute closed the gap to one.
Columbia Falls led in shots on goal 10 to 9, and made Galbraith work in the net for 8 saves.
Head coach Roland Benedict said while he wasn’t happy with how things went against the Wildkats, it was nice to see his team bounce back and find their rhythm.
“In the Columbia Falls game we didn’t play particularly well, and it was just because we didn’t do the simple things that our style of play and system is built on. Once we got that back on track and focused just on playing, I think we’ve established that we can score goals and create chances just by being more sound defensively.”
In particular, Benedict said he’s been happy with how his offensive system is coming together.
Rather than rely on one single goal scorer, he said his team is set up to pass effectively and open up opportunities for a lot of girls, some of who are playing out of position to accommodate the system.
“We’re not really built like a Billings Central or a Laurel or Columbia Falls. They key offensively on one or two players that create or score all their chances. We don’t really have that one individual player, though we’re a talented team,” he said. “I think as a team we’ve done a really job in understanding roles and jobs and tasks that each position and players have had to assimilate to.”
This week the Lady Dogs played Bigfork on Tuesday after press time. On Friday and Saturday they’ll host Laurel and Billings at Smith Fields, with the first game starting at 3 p.m. on Friday and the second at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The second game will be a rematch of last year’s Class A semifinal match, which Billings won 3-0.
Benedict says both matches will be great chances to clean up his team’s play and scope out potential playoff matches.
“I like playing them because you get to see them once and we usually end up running into one of them in the playoffs,” he said. “[Billings] doesn’t concede a lot of goals, Laurel either, so the focus is learning how to attack them and pretty much getting information for when we play them with something on the line later in the year.”
Columbia Falls 2 2 — 4
Whitefish 2 1 — 3
W — Josie Schneider (Abigail Shaffer), 12:00
CF — Josie Windauer (Flora Jarvis), 23:00
W — Schneider (Grace Benkelman), 35:00
CF — Windauer (Maddie Robison), 38:00
CF — Madeline Robison (Windauer), 54:00
CF — LaKia Hill (Windauer), 56:00
W — Schneider (Adrienne Healy) 69:00
Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 10, Whitefish 9; Corner kicks — Columbia Falls 0, Whitefish 1; Goalie saves — Columbia Falls 4 (Ave McDonald), Whitefish 8 (Sami Galbraigh); Fouls — Columbia Falls 14, Whitefish 9; Cards — None.
Whitefish 3 1 — 4
Park 1 1 — 2
P — Malea Coleman (Ciara Madden) 14:00
W — Anna Cook (Josephine Brown) 20:00
W — Josie Schneider (Sofie Saurey) 29:00
W — Cook (Schneider) 38:00
P — Coleman (PK) 52:00
W — Saurey (Adrienne Healy) 72:00
Corner kicks — Whitefish 4, Park 1; Shots on goal — Whitefish 20, Park 14; Golie saves — Whitefish 6 (Sami Galbraith), Park 9 (Ava Braham); Fouls — Whitefish 1, Park 4; Cards — Park (yellow, Azalea Vance).