U-19 boys soccer picks up wins; girls team tops Missoula
Apr. 19—It was a mostly successful weekend for Clark Fork Soccer teams during a series of games at Amundson Sports Complex despite cold and windy Montana Spring conditions.
The U-19 boys won a pair of tough matches, beating Libby 7-2 and outscoring the Polson U18 team 6-4.
The pair of wins lifted the U-19 boys to 3-1-1 on the year with a plus 2 goal differential.
Plains coach Josh Allday said the win over Polson in the first of two matches for the U-19 squad was a "pretty physical game" against a physical team. He credited Eddie Perianez and Flip Hose for working together, with help from Lucas Allday and Jonny Felix as key reasons for the victory. He was also pleased with the goal tending work of Jacob Howell.
"Eddie and Flip had a great game and worked well together, supported by Lucas and Jonny," he said. "Howell is really picking up the goalkeeper position well and is showing great promise as a new goalkeeper".
Howell said the Polson game was a "pretty good workout. Lots of action going on with great defense and offense on both sides".
After knocking off Polson, Plains faced Libby where they struggled with Libby's quick, counter attacking style.
"Libby has some really fast strikers which were hard to figure out," coach Allday said. "Our movement was great and we dominated possession".
Assistant Coach Ryan Schraeder said the game was very sloppy in the beginning with Plains playing below their abilities.
"The second game against Libby was very, very sloppy to start", he said. "We were all flat-footed and just being lazy. After our halftime discussion we were able to work as a team passing the ball into space and playing some good soccer. We ended the game strong".
The girls U-17 team had a mixed outcome against teams from Missoula and Polson. They beat Missoula's U-15 team 7-1, but lost to Polson's U-18 team 5-0.
In the loss to Polson, Plains was in the game throughout the first half. Maddie Carter struck the goal post with a shot and both Wmeilia Rivinius and Madison Toyias had shots that were turned away by the Polson goalkeeper.
Polson took advantage of changing defensive alignments to keep Plains off balance but still entered halftime tied at 0. Plains goalkeeper Ava had eight saves going into halftime.
Polson came out of halftime having switched to a 3-4-3 alignment, a move that allowed them to score off the halftime kickoff. They then scored several more goals before Plains could adjust.
To begin the second game, Plains looked to seize control of the game and not let the Strikers control the tempo.
Plains got five goals from Savannah Costner, who assisted on two others. Mikiah Cook and Emelia Rivinius also had a goal apiece for Plains.
"I think I'm pleased with the players' response," said coach Nick Lawyer. "After losing the first game it would be easy to get down on ourselves, but they came out with intensity and anger that really caught me off guard. The 7-1 score doesn't really represent how aggressive and dominant we were and I'm pleased with the team's response".
The split gave the U-17 girls a 1-1-1 season record with a plus one GD.
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