Girls Soccer: Lady Loggers defeat Bigfork, 3-1

Timing Jaime Gilden’s pass perfectly, Libby junior Chelsea Ahart never hesitated while burying a screamer into the net. And then she didn’t hesitate to celebrate as the Lady Loggers pulled away from Bigfork, 3-1, in front of a Saturday homecoming crowd.

Ahart’s goal in the 70th minute gave her team a little breathing room in a game that had become close after Bigfork’s Caitlin Charlebois scored 11 minutes into the second half.

“Bigfork surprised me. They’re in a lot better shape with only a couple of subs,” Libby coach Matt Warner said. “My expectation was that we were going to tire them out after the first half.”

The victory moved Libby’s record in the Northern A to 6-0 and its overall mark to 9-0.

Anna Valentine and Gilden were in tune on corner kicks in the victory. In just the second minute of the game, Valentine placed a corner kick into the middle where Gilden headed the ball into the net.  The same two players hooked up on another corner kick goal in the 35th minute. And again, Gilden scored on a header.

But then the Vals’ defense buckled down and didn’t allow another goal for 35 minutes.

“Bigfork’s defense, they weren’t letting anything come easy,” Warner said. “We had a hard time penetrating.”

The Vals dodged some Libby bullets during the game – including a Valentine shot that bounced off the top of the post five minutes in and another Valentine shot on a free kick that goalkeeper Danielle Morris had to go high for the stop in the 60th minute.

Bigfork had fortune on its side when Charlebois scored. On the play, Charlebois’ shot hit the hands of Libby goalkeeper Audra Poppen but had enough on it to reach the net.

“We were out of it for about 10 minutes where we were a little off and it changed in Bigfork’s favor,” Warner said.

Libby held a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal and a 4-0 advantage on corner kicks. Audra Poppen and Jenny Johnson each had one save in net.

The Lady Loggers play host to Polson on Thursday and Whitefish on Saturday.