Bandits soccer team splits weekend games

By JORDAN DAWSON/Bigfork Eagle

Saturday afternoon the Bigfork Bandits Boys U12 Soccer team hosted their only home game of the Spring Travel League season, and decided to make a party out of it by cooking a barbecue lunch and inviting two teams from Helena and one from Great Falls to play.

The Bandits lost their first game against the Helena Royal team 4-1. "We had lots of opportunities, but we just couldn't convert," said coach Ian MacCallum. Adding that the Royal's had a good goalie that turned back a lot of shots. Bigfork's only goal was scored by Tyler Zavala and assisted by Kyle Thomson.

The Bandits came back to beat the Helena Gold team 5-2. The boys took an early 3-0 lead in the first half with goals by Caleb Frame, Bryce MacCallum and Jorge Zavala. In the second half the Helena boys came out and scored an early goal. But Bigfork took away Helena's hope of a come back with strong defense by Austin Sibole, Steven Lyon and goalie Tyler Iverson. The Bandits added to their lead with a goal by Tyler Zavala and another by Frame.

Great Falls beat the Helena Gold team 3-2 and the Royal team 5-2.

The Bandits finished the season 5-4-1 and finished third in their group in last week's "Three Blind Refs Tournament" in Kalispell with a record of 2-1-1. They will move on to the State Cup Tournament June 21 and 22 in Helena.

"I think we did very well." MacCallum said. "You have to put it in context. We are small little Bigfork. Helena is much bigger and can obviously field two teams. We beat a very good team and ended on a good note. The kids played very well on both sides of the field. Every boy contributed."

This is only the second season for the Bandits. Last year Bigfork fielded two teams, one for 11-year-olds and one for 12-year-olds. However, neither team won a game. This year, they only had enough kids to field one team, but the season has been much more successful and interest is growing for the sport around the community.

"I think that we've come a long way in a short period of time," MacCallum said. "And I think this win against Helena proved that. The spring league is more challenging. The pool of talent is larger. We're playing better kids. It's more demanding all the way around."