Boys team ends season with losses

Having started the season with more players than ever in its 10-year history, a 1-10-1 season wasn’t exactly what the Bigfork boys soccer team had hoped for, but after losing 6-0 in Polson and 8-2 at Stillwater Christian School last week in the final two games of the season, it was the reality of the situation.

Bigfork’s only win this year came from Columbia Falls forfeiting the majority of its season. Bigfork was the only team in the conference that the Wildcats played prior to the forfeiting of their season, and that game resulted in a scoreless tie.

The young Vikings team had nine freshmen and four additional first-year players and the lack of experience commonly showed in the second half of games, when the majority of the goals were scored against them.

Their head coach, Keith Koslosky, said he ran the numbers over the weekend and between the 61st and 70th minute is when they seemed to give up the most goals.

In the last 20 minutes of the matches, they gave up 18 goals, compared to the 17 they gave up in the first halves.

“That’s something for us to work on. I don’t know if that’s conditioning or if it’s us abandoning what we’re doing,” Koslosky said. “We definitely have some work to do.”

While the Vikes were struggling defensively late in the game, they were also unable to counter the problem on offense and in fact scored just four goals this season. Two of those came early on in the season against Stillwater, and the others were scored during the Vikes final game of the season, also against Stillwater.

“We saved our best game for last,” Koslosky said. “It was a very entertaining game and to see the effort that John Lyon, Fabian Zavala, Mike Frizzell, Dylan Reichenbach and Nate Roberson put out in their last game of their high school career was a testament to their commitment to the team. It was beautiful.”

The Vikes took an early lead with a goal at the 2:45 minute mark by Zavala with an assist from Roberson. Stillwater tied it up with a goal in the 9th minute by Josh LeGassey assisted by Josh Bray. Bigfork wasn’t done fighting though, and Roberson put in a goal one minute later to take the lead back.

However, that is where it ended for Bigfork as Stillwater’s Bray scored in the 18th minute with an assist from Justin Kauffman to tie the game back up at two apiece. Daniel Jentz scored the go-ahead goal with a penalty kick for Stillwater in the 33rd minute and Bray scored his team’s fourth first-quarter goal in the 39th minute with an assist from Jentz.

Bigfork was shutout in the second half while allowing goals in the 54th, 63rd, 75th and 79th minutes.

Seve Gislason held the goalkeeper position for the Vikes this week while Roberson, who filled the position for most of the season, played on the field for the second week in a row — a decision made by Koslosky with the team out of playoff contention to allow the senior some field time before the end of his career.

Gislason had eight saves at goalie for Bigfork against Stillwater.

“Seve did a great job for us in the net until he got injured during a collision,” Koslosky said. “He had some saves that he never should have gotten to including two times when he was one-on-one with the opponent.”

Curtis Jochen stepped in to relieve Gislason in the goal after his accident and had five more saves for Bigfork.

While Koslosky said he was proud of his seniors for their strong finish to their otherwise disheartening season, he also said he saw some things blossoming in his younger players.

“Bryce Hagler came of age the past week,” Koslosky said. “He really did some great work for us He played against some bigger, faster, stronger guys at Stillwater. He was beat down the field a lot of times, but he ended up getting in there and disrupting some things. Hagler played beyond his years. He didn’t panic. He didn’t rush things. He just did what he needed to do.”

POLSON

The Bigfork boys weren’t able to get the ball in the net in Polson, but Koslosky said that game was also proof of the fruition of their season and actually helped prepare them for Friday’s game at Stillwater.

“Things started to gel Thursday night and they really blossomed Friday,” Koslosky said. “You could start to see us putting things together on Thursday and it carried over to Friday. We created opportunities against Polson, we just weren’t able to covert.”

The Pirates, however, were able to convert. They scored in the 1st and 14th minute of the first half to lead 2-0 at the half before going on to score in the 49th, 59th, 64th and 73rd minutes.

Jochen and Gislason shared goal tending duties in Polson as well. Jochen was credited with four saves while Gislason had three.

“Curtis was spectacular in the goal,” Koslosky said.

With the season officially over, Koslosky is looking to next year and liking what he sees.

“Now we have some players with some experience under their belt, which should be of some good help to us next year,” Koslosky said. “If the numbers in the rec program are any indication of what we’ll be seeing in the high school program, I am happy about that.”

However, if this season has shown them anything it is the numbers are not enough.

“As a group, the kids need to commit to having an earlier start,” Koslosky said. “If they want their season to be something different they need to start in June.”

JUNIOR VARSITY

Bigfork’s junior varsity boys soccer team also took on Stillwater this week and picked up a loss, 7-0.

As was the case with the varsity, Koslosky said it was one of the JV’s best games of the season.

“They actually played soccer. It was great to see,” Koslosky said. “Shane Parks played the best soccer of the season. Bryce MacCallum took five shots on the goal and Jorge Zavala took four shots. Abe Malley, Jacob Western and Robert Coyle — they played hard, they played smart and they played well.”

The JV boys were also unable to win a game this season as well, but the experience was invaluable for the Bigfork program that saw its largest numbers ever as it gave playing time to many younger participants who otherwise may have not been on the field much.

“I would really like to thank Matt Porrovecchio for getting five junior varsity games put together for us so quickly this season,” Koslosky said. “They provided our boys with a great opportunity.”