Boys Soccer: Libby takes 5-1 homecoming victory

Even during last season’s state championship run, the Libby High School boys soccer team didn’t have more than seven victories during the regular season.

The Loggers surpassed the seven-win mark on Saturday with a 5-1 homecoming victory over Bigfork. And eight wins is a new regular-season record. Of course, Libby would like to extend that record to nine and then 10 wins.

Polson, Libby and Whitefish are battling for the two available playoff spots out of the Northern A. As far as the Loggers are concerned, the postseason begins Thursday when they square off with the Pirates. On Saturday, the Loggers will host Whitefish in the regular-season finale.

“One of those teams is not going to the playoffs,” Libby coach Charlie Webster said. “We have the most control … plus we’re at home.”

Incidentally, Polson beat Whitefish, 1-0, on Saturday and the Loggers lead the conference despite a loss to the Bulldogs.

Libby had a few problems with Bigfork early on but established itself as the stronger team in the second half. The Loggers missed on two good opportunities in the first two minutes on feeds from Cree Maloney to Daniel Webster and Crawford Dinning. In the ninth minute, Libby scored when Maloney dribbled the ball into traffic and tapped the ball back to Nick Reny, who buried it in the net.

Dinning came close to scoring on two opportunities in the following minutes – first on a breakaway and then on a close call with the keeper. In the 36th minute, Bigfork’s Lael Richmond banged a goal off the post to tie the game.

But Libby had no intentions of going in tied at the break. In the 39th minute, Maloney showed of his exceptional skill and focus when he attempted to score on a header. A Bigfork defenseman got in the way but Maloney picked up the ball right away on the deflection and kicked it into the net for a 2-1 Logger lead.

Libby extended its lead to 3-1 in the 50th minute on a Dinning goal. The play got a good start when LHS keeper Lewis Brossman kicked the ball just right to midfield. A few passes later, Marco Vences had the ball and he set up Dinning on the goal.

Eight minutes later, Andrew Peterson scored his first goal of the season on a feed from Dinning.

“It’s rewarding to see these players score goals,” Webster said. “There was some great passing to make those opportunities happen.”

Libby added a fifth goal in the 78th minute on a shot by Vences.

“We played a very strong, all-around game,” Webster said. “We’re playing excellent as a team right now.”

Libby, which improved to 5-1 in the Northern A and 8-2 overall, had a 13-2 shots-on-goal advantage. Brossman had two saves.