Whitefish boys get past Hamilton to earn spot in semifinals

The Whitefish boys soccer team battled to a 2-1 victory over Hamilton Saturday in the Class A quarterfinal at Smith Fields.

The Bulldogs, who played Polson on Tuesday to earn the playoff berth, were led by co-captain junior Ryder Elliot who scored two goals to give the advantage to the home team. Whitefish held off many late attacks by the Broncs and secured the win to move on to the state semifinals next week.

“Playoff soccer is always a ratchet up,” Whitefish coach John Lacey said. “We didn’t come out as strong as we could have, Hamilton saw opportunities and kept us off the board… Nothing is going to be easy here in playoffs, these games are going to be 80 minutes… it proved true this last Saturday where we had to defend right down to the last minute.”

In the 7th minute, Elliott found the back of the net on a hard shot, assisted by Jackson Dorvall, that made its way by Hamilton keeper Luke Mendenhall. Whitefish played on the one-goal lead until the 63rd minute when Elliott blasted another shot from outside the 18-yard box. Mendenhall got a hand on it but it slipped over the line for the score.

“Ryder Elliot broke through, he’s playing great soccer right now so it’s really fun to watch him step up and really own the midfield as well as in front of goal,” Lacey said.

Hamilton pushed hard in the last 15 minutes of the game and earned a penalty kick in the 77th minute after a foul in the box was called. Broncs’ Alain Garcia put away the PK to narrow the lead to 2-1.

“A lot of credit to Hamilton, that program has come a long way,” Lacey said. ‘They’ve had a great season and they brought a great game to us.”

Whitefish held off the late push by Hamilton and the Bulldogs had shots that hit the post or barely missed the frame.

The Bulldogs had five shots to Hamilton’s six, and the Broncs won the corners with six while the Bulldogs had three. Whitefish keeper Ethan Schott made six saves and Hamilton’s Mendenhall made three saves.

“A lot of that game was played in the midfield… a sign that we need to get back to playing simpler, playing faster, playing harder and just going out and working to get to the spot… where we need to make our chances happen,” Lacey said.

Earlier in the week, the Bulldogs handled Polson in a postseason play-in game at Smith Fields. Whitefish took a 3-0 lead into halftime and added another goal in the second half to defeat the Pirates.

Whitefish’s Collin Lyman scored twice and Dorvall had a goal as well in the first half. The goals came within a matter of nine minutes. Logan Bingham scored in the 42nd minute and the Dogs took a 4-0 win over the Pirates.

Whitefish has won four consecutive Class A state titles and entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed from the North. Columbia Falls has the No. 1 seed.

The Bulldogs will face Park High School in the semifinals on Saturday in Livingston.

Hamilton 0 1 – 1

Whitefish 1 1 – 2

WF – Ryder Elliott (Jackson Dorvall) 7:00

WF – Ryder Elliott 63:00

Ham – Alain Garcia (PK) 77:00

Shots – Ham 6, WF 5; Corners – Ham 6, WF 3; Fouls – Ham 10, WF 17; Saves – Ham 3 (Luke Mendenhall), WF 6 (Ethan Schott).

Polson 0 0 – 0

Whitefish 3 1 – 4

WF - Collin Lyman (Kyler Jonson) 21:00

WF - Jackson Dorvall 25:00

WF - Lyman 30:00

WF - Logan Bingham (Preston McPherson) 42:00

Shots – Polson 5, WF 25; Corner kicks – Polson 1, WF 11; Fouls – Polson 7, WF 4; Goalie saves – Polson 20 (Maddox Bird), WF 5 (Ethan Schott, Charlie Dow).