Boys' soccer draw, drop friendly matches at home
<p>Battle for control with Park High's Clayton Busby, left, and senior midfielder Colin Maloney vs. the Rangers Friday, Sept. 2. (Seaborn Larson/The Western News)</p>
In two friendly matches at home last weekend, the Libby Loggers soccer team held Park County off in the second half to survive Friday’s match with a draw, but couldn’t keep up on Saturday with Belgrade, who handed Libby its first loss of the season.
In Friday’s match, Park High drew first blood in the fifth minute as Colin McKenzie scored off an assist from Kelton Madden.
The Loggers answered six minutes later when Sebastian “Sebo” Sanders was able to score on Colin Maloney’s missed shot that bounced off the bar, leaving the Park keeper out of place for the block.
The Rangers controlled the tempo for most of the first half, but the Libby defenders were able to backup keeper Ryan Nagle to keep McKenzie from claiming his second goal in the first half.
On the other side of the field, Libby midfielder Austin Swartzenberger capitalized on a keeper error in the 32nd minute to gain the 2-1 lead. But the Rangers didn’t let up before halftime, evening the score again with a goal by Peter Gregory assisted by McKenzie, two minutes before the whistle.
Libby came out with a second wind the second half, taking more control of the ball as they looked to secure their second season victory. But the Rangers maintained their intensity in the later half, as McKenzie claimed his second goal of the day in the 59th minute.
Libby midfielder Cody Wood answered in the 68th minute, skimming his shot past the Park keeper to tie up the score at 3-3. It was the last goal of the game, marking the first draw of the season for the Loggers.
Libby finished with three corner kicks, nine fouls and three saves by Nagle and another two by Bryant Reis. McKenzie led the Park Rangers will two goals and an assist.
During the Saturday match, the boys suffered their first season loss to Belgrade, finishing 8-0.
For the first 10 minutes, Belgrade controlled the ball in the Loggers’ corner, but the Loggers got the ball back to the opponent’s side as Libby freshman forward Logan LaBelle got the ball back with a swift steal just inches away from the sidelines.
Soon after, Maloney took the ball to the net with 18 minutes left in the first half, but wasn’t able to make a goal.
Wood managed to wrestle the ball away from the competitors’ grip, but only made it to the mid-field line.
The Loggers took the ball all the way to the end and it looked like they had a chance of scoring, but Belgrade found an open spot in the Loggers’ defense and scored with two minutes left on the first half.
The keeper was able to block the first shot from the side but failed to come back in time to block a header from the opponent, bringing the game to 5-0 in the end of the first half.
During the second half, Nagle dove and deflected the ballto assist Reis at keeper, but it bounced off the pole and into the net, bringing the score to 6-0.
The Loggers fought hard in the last 25 minutes of the second half, passing and stealing across the field, keeping Belgrade from scoring another goal before the game concluded at 8-0.
The Loggers are now 1-1-1 on the season. They’ll travel to Hamilton on Saturday for another friendly against the Broncs.