Lady Dogs drop pair on road trip

Whitefish tallied the first punch

against Billings Central, but it wasn’t enough to keep the

three-time defending state champs down.

In a rematch of last season’s Class A

title game, the Lady Bulldogs had Central tied 1-1 at halftime.

Whitefish captain Megan Danczyk struck first in the fifth minute,

putting Billings’ behind for the first time since their 2009 title

game with Libby.

Then the Rams rallied with goals in the

10th and 45th minutes to take the lead for good. Three goals and a

5-1 win later and Central had stretched their undefeated streak to

47 matches.

Whitefish played Central closer than

the scoreboard shows. They were only outshot 12-14, corner kicks

were even at four each, and fouls were evenly divided, too.

“They finished chances and we got

unlucky on some attempts and offside calls,” Whitefish coach Wendy

Farrens said. “Hats off to them. They were able to put a bunch in

the net and take control of the game.”

Mentally exhausted, Whitefish came out

flat and dropped their second game of the season the following day

at Laurel in a 3-2 nonconference loss.

Laurel scored twice in the first half

before Danczyk converted on two opportunities in the second to tie

up the match. With three minutes to play, however, Laurel’s Haylee

Gallegos found the net for the winning score.

“They took it to us from the first

whistle,” Farrens said. “We were able to come back, unfortunately

we couldn’t hold them.”

The loss dropped Whitefish’s record to

1-2 overall. Farrens said the trip east was a good test.

“It’s good to play tough competition at

the beginning of the season,” she said. “We played both of them

well, and it gave us an idea of where our success happened and what

we need to work on.”

Defending set pieces, like corner

kicks, and finishing scoring chances close to goal are areas of

improvement Farrens noted.

“We have a couple things we need to

work on,” Farrens said, “but this being a new team with a new

coach, I’m proud of the way we played. We just need to put together

two solid halves.”

Whitefish hosts Bigfork this Thursday

at 6 p.m. in the conference opener.