Soccer Playoffs Whitefish boys prevail over Laurel on penalty kicks, 4-3

LAUREL — Whitefish connected four times on penalty kicks to slip by Laurel 4-3 on Saturday in quarterfinal action of the Class A boys soccer playoffs.

Both teams battled to a scoreless tie through regulation and two overtime periods on a very windy day.

Whitefish (9-3-1 overall) started first in the penalty session with Ian Grover. Grover connected on his attempt as did Casey Schneider, Quinten Joss and Noah Romagnuolo at Nos. 2, 4 and 5.

Laurel (6-6-2) made its attempts at 1-3-4.

“It was a hard game at this stage (of the season) to have it go out on penalty kicks,” Whitefish coach John Lacey said.

“Nobody was able to break through. Not excited about it (to have the match decided this way), but it’s a way to get a win.”

Whitefish had just three shots on goal before the penalty kicks to seven for Laurel.

“It was a hard day to score,” Lacey said.

“The wind made it challenging.”

Two Whitefish starters did not play because of injuries — goalie Colter Upton and co-captain Avery Hirsch. Sophomore Bradlee Anderson was in goal for Whitefish the first half and Marvin Kimera, a freshman off the junior varsity squad, finished out the match.

“Marvin stepped up great,” Lacey said.

“He played through the penalty kicks.

“We’ve only had two shutouts all year so this was a great time to batten down the hatches and play defense,” he added.

“A great, great effort from our defense carried us today.”

Whitefish advances to semifinal action on Saturday at Frenchtown. Those two schools did not play during the regular season.

“A great win for us,” Lacey said.

“We haven’t gotten too many over the years. I’m proud of the guys. They played 100 minutes of just gritty, willful soccer.”

Whitefish 0 0 0 0 — 0 (4)

Laurel 0 0 0 0 — 0 (3)

(Penalty Kicks)

Whitefish — Ian Grover, Casey Schneider, Quinten Joos and Noah Romagnuolo (shots made 1-2-4-5)

Laurel — NA (shots made 1-3-4)

Match Stats

Shots on goal — Whitefish 3, Laurel 7; Corner kicks — Whitefish 3, Laurel 4; Goalie saves — Whitefish 7 (Bradlee Anderson, Marvin Kimera), Laurel 3 (McMurrey); Fouls: Whitefish 5, Laurel 11; Cards — NA.

Frenchtown 4,

Columbia Falls 3

FRENCHTOWN — Tanner Fields broke a 3-all tie with a goal in the 77th minute as Frenchtown slipped by Columbia Falls.

Auguste Emond had back-to-back goals at 69 and 73 minutes for Columbia Falls to tie it at 3-all.

Caleb Stanicar had the first three scores for Frenchtown.

Tristan Grein had the other goal for Columbia Falls, with Emond assisting, at 36 minutes for a 1-1 tie at the half.

“They gave everything they had on the field to get the win,” Columbia Falls coach O’Brien Byrd said.

“I think we could have beat them on another day, but kudos to Frenchtown. We wish them luck in the semifinals.”

Frenchtown (11-1-1) outshot Columbia Falls on goal 15-9.

Corner kicks also favored the winners, 9-5.

Niels Getts had 11 keeper saves for Columbia Falls (6-6-0).

Emond finished the season with 14 goals and five assists.

It was Grein’s sixth goal of the fall campaign.

Columbia Falls 1 2 — 3

Frenchtown 1 3 — 4

F — Caleb Stanicar, 7:00

CF — Tristan Grein (Auguste Emond), 36:00

F — Stanicar (Tanner Fields), 46:00

F — Stanicar, 48:00

CF — Emond, 69:00

CF — Emond, 73:00

F — Fields, 77:00

Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 9, Frenchtown 15; Corner kicks — Columbia Falls 5, Frenchtown 9; Goalie saves — Columbia Falls 11 (Niels Getts), Frenchtown 5 (O’rion Murphy); Fouls — Columbia Falls 9, Frenchtown 10; Cards — Columbia Falls, 1 yellow.

Polson 6, Missoula Loyola 0

POLSON — Polson (11-1-1) jumped on Missoula Loyola (3-10-0) early, scoring four times in the first 28 minutes to blow by the Rams.

Michael Vergeront got the offense rolling with a goal less than two minutes into play.

Six different players scored goals.

Alex Wall-Wilbert scored one goal and assisted on two while Alex Encizo and Robin Erickson had one goal and one assist each.

Polson advances to semifinal play this weekend versus Belgrade.

Missoula Loyola 0 0 — 0

Polson 5 1 — 6

P — Michael Vergeront (Robin Erickson), 1:30

P — Mack Moderie (Alex Wall-Wilbert), 15:50

P — Erickson (Wall-Wilbert), 22:00

P — Wall-Wilbert (Bridger Wenzel), 28:00

P — Alex Encizo (Keyan Dalbey), 31:00

P — Linde Lambson (Encizo), 62:00

Shots on goal — Loyola 1, Polson 15; Corner kicks — Loyola 2, Polson 7; Goalie saves — Loyola 9 (Daniel Kaleva), Polson 1 (Tristan Clifford); Fouls — NA: Cards — NA.

Belgrade 4, Hamilton 2

Belgrade (12-0-0) 3 1 — 4

Hamilton (7-4-1) 1 1 — 2

B — Jordan Schlauch (Dominick Portnell), 6th

B — Kanon Tebo (Schlauch), 11th

B — Josiah Russell (unassited), 13th

H — Caelen DeVall (Rio Hammond), 32nd

H — Stephano Vallejo (Aryton Duncan), 60th

B — Schlauch (Jared Rockwell), 64th

Shots on goal — Hamilton 7, Belgrade 18; Corner kicks — Hamilton 4, Belgrade 4; Goalie saves — Hamilton 9 (Daniel Schlender), Belgrade 4 (Luke Turner); Fouls — Hamilton 6, Belgrade 12; Cards — NA.

Girls

Laurel 1, Whitefish 0

LAUREL — Laurel scored early in the second half and held on from there to edge Whitefish (7-6-0).

Laurel had 15 shots on goal to Whitefish’s five.

Laurel had eight corner kicks and Whitefish three.

Sami Galbraith had 11 keeper saves.

“It was closer than the stats show,” Whitefish coach Roland Benedict said.

He said windy conditions and playing on turf “made for an interesting atmosphere.”

Laurel (12-1-1) will host Hamilton in semifinal play this weekend.

Whitefish 0 0 — 0

Laurel 0 1 — 1

L —Gracey Willis (Maeson Cotter)

Shots on goal — Whitefish 5, Laurel 15; Corner kicks — Whitefish 3, Laurel 8; Goalie saves — Whitefish 11 (Sami Galbraith), Laurel 4 (NA); Fouls — Whitefish 7, Laurel NA; Cards — None.

Hamilton 2, Polson 0

HAMILTON — Rylee Wiediger connected on a free kick and Olivia Zepeda added a goal 15 minutes later as Hamilton (9-0-3) topped Polson (5-7-1).

Both scores came in the first half and in the first 25 minutes of play.

Hamilton outshot Polson on goal 23-10.

Megan Rost had 12 keeper saves for Polson.

Hamilton will host Laurel in semifinal play this weekend.

Polson 0 0 — 0

Hamilton 2 0 — 2

H — Rylee Wiediger, 10:00

H — Olivia Zepeda (Mallory McGill), 25:00

Shots on goal — Polson 10, Hamilton 23, Corner kicks — Polson 4, Hamilton 5; Goalie saves — Polson 12 (Megan Rost), Hamilton 3 (Maddy Martin) ; Fouls — Polson 9, Hamilton 12; Cards — NA.

Billings Central 6,

Missoula Loyola 0

Missoula Loyola (6-5-2) 0 0 — 0

Billings Central (11-0-2) 2 4 — 6

BC — Morgan Ferestad, 23:00

BC — Zoie Althoff (Morgan Ferestad), 38:00

BC — Zoie Althoff, 43:00

BC — Chloe Paharik (Zoie Althoff), 45:00

BC — Morgan Ferestad (Chloe Paharik), 55:00

BC — Zoie Althoff (Morgan Ferestad), 56:00

Shots on goal — Laurel 2, Billings 17; Corner kicks — NA: Goalie saves — Loyola 11 (Morgan Nicholson), Billings 2 (Samantha Burk); Fouls — NA: Cards — NA.