Bulldog soccer starts 1-1

Whitefish split a pair of nonconference

soccer games last week as they started their season on each side of

a shut out.

The Bulldogs blasted Stevensville on

Friday in a 7-0 victory, then traveled to Sandpoint, Idaho, where

they were blanked in a 5-0 loss.

Against Stevensville, Sam Donaldson

tallied a hat trick to lead Whitefish, while foreign exchange

student Elior Rossi, from Paris, hit the net twice. The duo hooked

up on the play of the game when Rossi put in a perfect cross to

Donaldson who found the net with a header from 10 yards out for a

5-0 lead.

Captain Mark Stormes started the

scoring in the first half and later assisted Michael Reimer. He

said it felt real good to get back on the pitch and start their

season.

“We’ve been missing this since last

November,” Stormes said, noting the team’s goal to make a deep

playoff run. “We’re ready to get back to the title game.”

Captain Joe Perry, who missed the match

with an ankle injury, liked the way the team played with patience

and possession.

“We kept with what the coaches have

been teaching us,” he said.

Senior captain Matty McCrone liked

their ability to finish attempts on goal and said the shutout was a

sign of things to come.

“Out mentality is to get shutouts every

time,” he said.

Whitefish outshot Stevensville 20-3.

The three saves were split between keepers Chance Ling and Thomas

Clark.

Saturday, however, Whitefish ended up

on the wrong end of the zero at Sandpoint.

The top-ranked Idaho team took it to

the Bulldogs from the start, scoring twice in the opening 16

minutes. They tacked on three more in the second half, despite

being outshot 11-8 overall.

Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd noted the

Dogs’ lack of “fire and passion.”

Whitefish travels to Billings Central

Friday. Last week, Central topped Hamilton 2-0 and Corvallis

3-0.