Blue Hawks get first soccer win

This was a big week for high school soccer in the Sanders and Mineral counties area.

Not only did both the boys and girls teams get their first wins as high school varsity competitors in this, their first season, they both finished with gratifying ties against seasoned competition. 

The Blue Hawks and Lady Blue Hawks, consisting of players from Thompson Falls, Plains and St. Regis both defeated Browning by identical 10-0 scores this past Tuesday in a game played at Amundson Sports Complex in Plains. 

They followed those historic first wins with tie games against Libby in their final appearances this season on their home turf at Thompson Falls High’s Previs Field. 

Tuesday, the Browning teams came to Plains and the girls got things going with a 10-0 win, their first as high school varsity players. 

Solveig Nygaard was outstanding offensively for the Lady Hawks, recording a hat-trick with three goals in a single game.  Teammate Savanah Costner added a pair of goals for the Lady Hawks as they rolled over the visitors from Browning. 

The win was a gratifying thing for girls' head coach Nick Lawyer and crew. 

“It’s really great for the team to get a win and see some success from their season”, Lawyer said. “After a tough stretch (the Lady Hawks played the third, fourth and fifth ranked teams in the state), it’s good to see the girls not just be competitive but clearly be the better team”. 

Also scoring single goals for the Lady Hawks were Ava Lawyer, Kylee Huff, Katherine Wrobleski, an eighth grader who has been the team’s leading scorer this season, Elizabeth Weederman and Melodie Cook. 

Lawyer said three of the players (Weederman, Cook and Huff) scored their first goals of the season in the win.  And he had special praise for Nygaard and her three-goal feat. 

“Solveig clearly deserves special mention for her hat trick and her first goals of the season,” Lawyer said. “She had some rampaging runs from mid-field that Browning just couldn’t find a way to stop”. 

Huff’s goal was a header, a score where the player strikes the ball with her head, and it crosses the goal line. 

The Lady Hawks also had an outstanding day defensively, with goalkeeper Callie McGills having just one save on the day as the defenders clamped down on Browning. 

The boys also had an impressive 10-0 win in their game against Browning.  It was also their first win after two earlier ties this season. 

Two players, Will Grenada and Simeon Costner had two goals each for the Blue Hawks.  Other players who scored single goals were Arrow Hyde, Nathanail Palacios, Jonny Felix, Liam Pallister, Zac Palciosi and Owen Doyle. 

T Falls-Plains-St. Regis, the co-op schools that came together to create the varsity soccer teams, was up 6-0 at halftime of their win. 

“Our boys did a great job of moving the ball around and finding space as well as capitalizing on opportunities to score,” said boys head coach Michael Scharfe.  “We are excited to get our first win for the high school boys soccer team”. 

Saturday, the two teams played their final games of the season, taking on Libby at Previs Field in T Falls. 

In a wild, back and forth game, the girls saw the visiting Lady Loggers take a 1-0 lead on a quick counter through the midfield that caught goalkeeper Lawyer off guard for a goal. 

Before the first half ended, Wrobleski, who led the team in goals this season, chipped in a shot over the Libby goalie’s head, knotting the score at 1-1. 

In what coach Lawyer called a “nutso” match, Libby regained the lead in an action-packed second half when Libby midfielder Jocelyn Gassman scored off a corner kick, putting the visitor up 2-1. 

The Lady Hawks struck back a short time later when Weederman moved the ball to Costner, who was behind the Libby back line and “calmly” put it in the net. 

Costner’s goal tied the score at 2-2, which was the final score.  It was the second tie of the season between the two teams, who tied 3-3 in their game in Libby earlier this year. 

“There are times when a tie feels like a win, and there are times when it feel like a loss,” coach Lawyer said. “When we tied Libby 3-3 it felt like a win. Last night (Saturday) when we tied Libby 2-2 at home, it also felt like a win.  I think the girls are proud of these results and the future is bright”. 

Lawyer noted that the St. Regis school district provided a bus that brought about 40 fans to the game in T Falls to cheer for the team and the lone player from St. Regis, Grace Noonan. 

“It was really an electric night,” Lawyer said. “I hope in the future all three schools can continue to encourage a sense of community and cooperative spirit of this venture”. 

Co-op boys coach Scharfe was also pleased with his team’s performance, which resulted in a 3-3 tie. 

“The game lived up to its hype and was by all sense of the term a nail-biter,” he said. 

Libby had taken a 3-0 lead at the half, Scharfe said.  He credited a “spirited” halftime pep talk by coach Josh Allday for pumping the team up for the second half. 

“They came out fighting the second half and would not settle for a loss in our last home game,” Scharf said. 

Grenada scored less than five minutes into the second half to pull the Blue Hawks within two, 3-1.  A little later, Palacios also found the back of the net with a shot on goal, cutting the Logger lead to one, 3-2. 

Going into the final seconds of play Libby committed a foul on a handball inside their own penalty box.  Grenada took the penalty shot and scored his second goal of the match when he pushed the penalty kick past the Libby goalie, tying the game at 3-3.  The final whistle blew a short time later, ending the match in a deadlock. 

“I am so proud of these boys and the grit they showed to stick with it and finish well,” Scharfe said.  

The team honored seniors Palacios, Grenada, Doyle, Benney Reeves, Alex Meyer, Zach Escarcega and Jonny Fields during senior night ceremonies. 

The Lady Hawks, meanwhile, honored senior Noonan and McGillis. 

The boys' and girls' teams have two games left on their schedule, both of them away games.  They travel to Bigfork this Tuesday (Oct 8), then head to Whitefish Thursday (Oct 10) for their final game of the regular season. 

    Plains player Jonny Felix (blue jersey) goes airborne as he scores a goal during the Blue Hawks match against Browning this past Tuesday in Plains. (Photo by Tracy Scott)