Dogs shut out Loggers

Knocking off the Loggers is never easy

— especially twice in the same season.

Whitefish’s boys soccer team scratched

and bumped their way to a 4-0 victory over Libby Sept. 25 in a

league match to keep the Bulldogs’ Northern A record a perfect

5-0.

“Libby is always going to be competitve

and always push us hard,” Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd said. “We

beat the state champs back to back.”

Junior midfielder Sean Janni led the

charge and served up two beautiful assists to get Whitefish on the

board early.

Janni crossed a pass in from the left

side where Casey Beiser was able to tally in front of the net in

the 22nd minute. Janni then hit Sam Donaldson on another perfect

cross from the left to make it 2-0 going into the half.

“Janni was just lights out,” Byrd said.

“He brought some versatitlty to our attack.”

Libby hung around in the physical match

until Jon Dittman was able to connect in the 52nd minute for a 3-0

lead. Janni capped off his stellar game with a goal in the 78th

minute.

The Bulldogs put 16 shots on frame.

Byrd liked the offensive pressure and ball control, but wants to

see the Dogs score on more of their chances.

“We’ll be playing much tougher games

down the line,” Byrd said. “We had some clear chances on goal that

we should have finished.”

Defensively, the Dogs are stout, he

said. The back line has allowed only two goals in the past six

matches.

Byrd said goalkeeper Thomas Clark is

playing the best soccer of his career and that the defensive unit

is on the same page.

The coach noted the team’s ability to

move the ball and find the openings on the wing.

“It was the best posession game we’ve

had all year,” Byrd said.

He mentioned Beiser’s play up

front.

“He was a little terrier out there

tormenting their guys,” Byrd said.

The victory was the sixth straight for

Whitefish (7-2, 5-0).