Loggers win play-in game, 3-1

The Libby Loggers soccer team had a successful entry into the 2015 Class A state playoffs Tuesday evening, defeating the Wildcats of Columbia Falls, 3-1, in Logger Stadium.

The ‘Cats took the lead in the 18th minute, when Jakob Grein headed in a corner kick, even though play in the opening minutes of the game was dominated by the Loggers. Loggers forward Giovanni Cano had a goal disallowed in the eighth minute due to an off-sides call and a ‘Cats score on themselves was waived off, leaving Libby scoreless in the first half.

Libby evened the score in the 63rd minute of play when conference-leading scorer Cody Wood put back a ricochet shot from Colin Maloney. Zander Petersen broke the tie open for Libby just eight minutes later, with an unassisted score in the 71st minute. In the 78th minute the Wildcats goal keeper, Brandon Karberg, slipped on a goal kick. Cano passed the ball to Maloney who quickly scored and put the game away for the Loggers.

Libby coach Mark Petersen credited his backfield players for keeping his team in the game and giving them the chance to win.

“Center backs Nik Neumann and Tyler Lucas took control of the backfield in the second half, with great support from Bridger Herreid and Bryant Reis; their play was a big part of our win,” Petersen said. “This is the outcome we were playing for but we didn’t anticipate we would give everyone in attendance such a thrilling game to watch. Eventually, our strength on the ball and defense made the difference for us. We all thought we were heading into overtime with the score 1-1 in the final minutes, then our captains, Zander and Colin came through in a big way for us.”

The Loggers finished the season as the highest scoring team in the Northern A conference with 33 goals and a plus-10 goal differential in all games. They next face Loyola from the Southern conference at 1 p.m. Saturday. Loyola finished the season with a 5-6-1 record, the Loggers now stand at 8-4-1.