Head-to-head
Pirates go undefeated in head-to-head matchups with last year's two conference playoff teams
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For the Polson Pirates it was more than worth the "wait" in gold.
After starting the season with a 387-minute scoreless streak, the Pirates scored two goals in the final 14 minutes to beat the Bulldogs in Whitefish for the first time in the team’s history Saturday.
With just two minutes left on the clock, Pirate midfielder Riley Lemm corralled a long throw in from Jonathan Murphy and was able to get around the Bulldog defender and knock the ball in from about 6 yards out to complete the Pirates’ come-from-behind victory.
“To go up there and not only beat them in their house, but to come from behind and get the go-ahead goal in the final minutes told me a lot about this team,” Polson coach Jess Kittle said. “That they are willing to go to battle and fight for a win.”
Elation is how Kittle described the feeling after Lemm, who also assisted on the equalizing goal in the 67th minute, scored the game winner. But nervousness also came with the elation. Though there was only two minutes left on the clock, there was also a lot of stoppage time and the Bulldogs attack was relentless until the final whistle blew.
“The last couple of minutes seemed to go on forever, but they got through it,” Kittle said. “The defense was on, just like they were against Libby.”
The Pirates battled the Loggers to a scoreless draw at home Thursday to open Northwestern A play. The Pirates’ defense, which has a one-goal against average, also wanted to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard – something they did in both games the past year –, but their hopes were dashed in the final seconds of the first half.
“It was tough to give up a goal like that right before the half. They really wanted to keep a clean sheet against them, but they battled back,” Kittle said.
The Polson defense limited Whitefish to only six shots in the game, with goalkeeper Clay Frissell stopping five of them.
As deflating as the Whitefish goal was, the Pirates battled back and were finally able to take the lid off the goal when a Lemm corner kick rattled around in front of the net before Sean Hart was able to poke it in. An unspectacular goal in most cases seems magnificent after a nearly six-and-a-half-hour scoreless drought.
Kittle said they need somebody to step up in the clutch and that’s what Hart, a senior captain, did, but he got a lot of help.
“It’s one guy that finishes, but the whole team did the work. The whole team set up the attack,” Kittle said.
After Hart’s equalizer, Kittle said he would have been happy to escape Whitefish with a tie, but the Pirates weren’t finished.
“Once you get a goal, you hope the floodgates will open, and we were able to get enough to get out of there with a win,” Kittle said.
With the win the Pirates remain undefeated in conference play and improve to 1-0-1.
The Pirates opened up conference play by battling the Loggers to a 0-0 draw on a rain-soaked field Thursday night. In a physical game, which had five yellow cards, one red card and 25 fouls, the Pirates withstood 11 Libby corner kicks and a Libby attack, which spent most the game in Polson territory. Despite spending most the game near the Polson goal, the Pirates limited the Loggers to only four shots.
“I am proud of the way our guys played, it took a lot of courage and toughness to stand toe-to-toe with Libby. Libby is a good team, but I think we can make a couple adjustments and get a win when we play them later this season,” Kittle said.
The Pirates will try to remain undefeated in conference play in Bigfork Thursday.
Summary
Polson 0, Libby 0
Libby00–0
Polson00–0
Polson 2, Whitefish 1
Polson02–2
Whitefish01–1
