Libby stumbles in 3-1 loss to Bonners Ferry

The Western News

Following the standout effort on Saturday in the loss to Whitefish, the Libby High School boys soccer team experienced a letdown during a Tuesday loss to Bonners Ferry.

Playing the Idaho school at Roosevelt Park in Troy, first-year coach Charlie Webster said his team wasn’t prepared in the 3-1 loss – something he blames on himself.

“Mentally, we need to get ready for every game we play,” Webster said. “Physically they did well but mentally we had a lot of breakdowns on the field. I know we’ll do better the next time we play.”

Bonners Ferry shot out to a 2-0 lead in the first 18 minutes on goals by Aaron Moe and Miguel Mendez. Just two minutes after getting into the two-goal hole, Cree Maloney found Kyle Berke with a pass deep. Maloney finished with a shot the back of the net to make the score 2-1 in the 20th minute.

The score remained that way until the 68th minute in the second half. Alex Mendez got the goal for a 3-1 Bonners Ferry lead and the Loggers could not recover.

The only bright spot from Libby’s point of view is that the loss occurred outside the scope of league play.

“It was good timing but also a good wake-up call to refocus for the task ahead,” Webster said.

The Loggers remain 4-1 in the league and go to 6-3 overall, and will play host to Bigfork on Saturday.