Dogs keep streak alive, blow out Polson, Corvallis
Ian Lacey rises for a header during Tuesday’s home win over Polson. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Chase Sabin flies in for a goal off a corner kick during last week’s blowout of Polson. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Marvin Kimera fires a goal against Polson last week at Smith Fields. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Last year Polson was the thorn in the Bulldogs’ side, stealing away a perfect season with a late-season tie game before the Dogs got revenge in the Class A State Title game.
So far this year, though, the Pirates aren’t a problem.
The Bulldogs sunk Polson 4-0 at home on last week in a big conference win.
Sam Menicke scored the first of his two goals in the 14th minute, assisted by Brandon Mendoza, to break open what had been a tough defensive match.
Chase Sabin added a goal of his own off a Mendoza assist just a minute later, flying in at the left corner of the net to score off a corner kick.
Marvin Kimera capped off the first half with a Casey Schneider-assisted goal in the 24th minute.
Schneider found the net later in the 72nd minute to wrap up the win for the Bulldogs.
Despite the shutout, head coach John Lacey said Polson made his team work.
“Polson gave us a challenge. They know how we play, we’ve played them quite a bit the last few years, so they prepared,” he said. “They did a great job staying organized on defense. It felt like a good test for us for what may come in the future as teams prepare.”
On Saturday Whitefish faced off against Corvallis in a northwest versus southwest, battle of the unbeatens. The Dogs won 5-1.
Goals came from all over the roster, with Menicke, Kimera, Schneider, Riley Arendt and Niath Edland scoring for Whitefish.
Gavin Hagberg scored Corvallis’ lone goal in the 66th minute.
Lacey said while the score was nice, he’s still waiting for his team to play a complete game.
“We didn’t quite get on the scoreboard the way we thought we might, but some of that is just the quality of the teams we’re playing,” he said. “We haven’t put together the full complete game, and that’s what we’re striving for right now. The core of it is we want to play fast, we want to go at teams and we want to be hard to play against. We want to be sound defensively and not let teams score.”
The Dogs get a breather this week, with no games until Saturday’s homecoming matchup against Libby, which starts at 2 p.m. at Smith Fields.
The team took Monday off as a rest day, and Lacey said he wants kids to heal up after a busy last few weeks before they push into the rest of the season.
“The standard is we want to play flawless soccer defensively and put it in the net on the other end,” he said.
“One of the most important things we can do for this last little stretch of the regular season is stay healthy,” he said. “There’s a lot of homecoming things going on and it’s fun to have our boys get excited with all the activities this week, so we want to embrace that.”
Polson 0 0 — 0
Whitefish 3 1 — 4
W — Sam Menicke (Brandon Mendoza) 14:00
W — Chase Sabin (Mendoza) 15:00
W — Marvin Kimera (Casey Schneider) 24:00
W — Schneider (Niath Edland) 72:00
Shots on goal — Polson 4, Whitefish 12; Goalie saves — Polson 8 (Gabe Mergenthaler) Whitefish 4 (Colter Upton, Bradlee Anderson); Corner kicks — Polson 0, Whitefish 6; Fouls — Polson 3, Whitefish 6; Cards — None
Whitefish 3 2 — 5
Corvallis 0 1 — 1
W — Sam Menicke (Casey Schneider) 10:00
W — Marvin Kimera (Menicke) 24:00
W — Riley Arendt 35:00
W — Schneider 50:00
C — Gavin Hagberg 66:00
W — Niath Edland (penalty kick) 78:00
Shots on goal — Whitefish 11, Corvallis 6; Goalie saves — Whitefish 5 (Colter Upton), Corvallis 6 (Linnewah); Corner kicks — Whitefish 8, Corvallis 2; Fouls — Whitefish 18, Corvallis 9; Cards — Whitefish 3 (yellow).