Vals soccer takes three losses
<p>Alauna Wilacher takes the ball inside against a Polson defender during the Vals first conference match of the season last Tuesday afternoon.</p>
The Valkyries soccer team played a tough three losses to Polson, Loyola and Libby in their first week on the job for Bigfork High School.
Last Tuesday’s season opener was a heart breaker for a team that played harder than the final score suggests. The 3-0 score doesn’t reflect all the chances on goal Bigfork’s Alauna Weilacher and Megan Pancoast had from breakaways and through balls.
“A good opening game for the Vals, though a goal or two would have been nice,” head coach Charlie Appleby said. “I think that they will start to fall in for us as the season goes on.”
Bigfork played the ball in Polson’s half most of the game, but Polson had 23 shots on goal to Bigfork’s 12. Last
Thursday the Vals headed south to Missoula and faced Loyola and took another 3-0 loss, but Bigfork’s goalkeeper Jazzmyn Musser came up big for the Vals with 19 saves.
“Musser has been playing terrific in goal,” Appleby said. “And once we start scoring will be able to keep us in games.”
The Vals defense has been tested in the first few games and has led to a couple of injuries in the back line. But, Appleby said his defense is starting to gel.
In Saturday’s game against Libby, the girls only allowed the Loggers to get 11 shots on goal. Four of those resulted in points for Libby, but Appleby said the defense held strong until the very end, when he had to pull a couple key defenders out due to injuries sustained earlier in the week.
“Hopefully they will be back for the Livingston-Belgrade trip,” Appleby said. “And more importantly for the upcoming conference game against Whitefish.”
Appleby said he thinks once the team learns how to control and sustain pressure during the attack, his girls will have a good chance at scoring goals and winning games.
“We have four dangerous scorers,” Appleby said. “Megan Pancoast, Danielle Keeler, Mattison McAnally and Alauna Weilacher, they have speed, endurance, accuracy and a whole lot of heart.”
The Vals play Livingston and Belgrade over the weekend, with their next home game against Columiba Falls on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m.