Vikings ready to take on northwest conference

Bigfork boys soccer will enter conference play Thursday against Polson with a 1-2-1 record.

The Vikings travelled to Belgrade Friday, where they lost 3-1, and then moved on to Livingston where they tied Park High School 2-2. The teams were 1-1 at half-time. Bigfork’s first point against Livingston wasn’t scored by a Viking player, but was accidentally knocked into the net by Livingston. Their second goal was scored by Isaac Passwater off a free kick by Kyle Thomson, which deflected off a defender.

Livingston then came back to score their second goal, tying the game.

The Vikings also went in the second half of the game against Belgrade with a 1-1 tie, but were unable to respond to Belgrade’s last two goals.

“Against a good team like that you have to play perfect for 90 minutes,” head coach Bill Buxton said. “And we played pretty darn good for most of the game.”

Buxton is still working with some players who are pretty new to the game and has been pleased with their progress.

“We put both those teams under a tremendous amount of pressure,” Buxton said. “We did a really good job of attacking both Belgrade and Livingston and I think it caught them of guard.”

With a young team, Buxton focused on using the early, non-conference matches for learning and preparation for the conference lineup.

“I think those games have really gotten us ready for conference play,” he said. “I think every team in the Northwest is vulnerable.”

The Vikings travel to Polson on Thursday, host Columbia Falls on Saturday at noon and travel to Whitefish on Tuesday.

Belgrade 3, Bigfork 1

Bigfork 1 0 - 1

Belgrade 1 2 - 3

Bel - Chris Brayton (unassisted), 19th

BF - Tyler Zavala (unassisted), 38th

Bel - Grant Jordan (unassisted), 47th

Bel - Jordan (unassisted), 72nd

Shots: BF 6, Bel 17. CK: BF 2, Bel 3. Fouls: BF 9, Bel 3. Saves: BF 8 (Ben Russell), Bel 2 (Clay Bost 2, Colin Scott 1). Cards: none.

Bigfork -Livingston tied 2-2