Flathead Lacrosse finishes season with a solid show at state

The Flathead Lacrosse Club’s high school team made a run in the Montana State Lacrosse Championships held at the University of Montana May 21-2.  The team is comprised of players from Columbia Falls and Whitefish.

Columbia Falls junior Brian Voutsinas led the team to a 21-0 shutout over Butte in the opening round.  In the quarterfnals,  Brian’s brother Anthony Voutsinas and classmate RJ Allison provided strong defense and limited a potent Helena High offense to just four goals as Flathead won 8-4 to advance to the semifinals against perennial favorite Missoula Hellgate.

The semifinals were played on the turf at University of Montana’s Washington Grizzly stadium.  Again, goalie Voutsinas was outstanding, but the high-powered attack of Hellgate proved too much en route to an 18-5 finish.  Hellgate went on to win its fifth consecutive championship after beating Bozeman High 19-3 in the final.

Flathead assistant coach Dean Chisholm said he was proud of the team’s competitiveness.

“This could have been a rebuilding year,” he said. “The sport has grown so quickly in the Flathead Valley that we split into two varsity programs and so we lost some quality players to Kalispell’s new program, Northwest Lacrosse.  We went from a squad of 38 last year to a team of 15 players who showed up at state bound and determined to continue Flathead Lacrosse’s tradition of excellence.”

Chisholm noted the Flathead team has reached the semifinals or better in three of the past four state tournaments.  Kalispell’s new team was knocked out of the tournament in the first round. 

Chisholm said that four Flathead Lacrosse players received All-State recognition.

“We’re still hunting that championship,” he said.  “We’ve got a large group of talented freshman coming in from our youth program next year, and a strong defense led by our returning Columbia Falls boys, and we usually pick up a few new athletes in our summer and fall programs.” 

Columbia Falls youth interested in the sport can get more information at www.flatheadlacrosse.com.