The Clark Fork Valley Soccer Alliance U12 Classic chocked up its fifth victory of the season Saturday in a face off against the Libby Kootenai Rapids 7-2 at the Amundson Sports Complex in Plains.

The Clark Fork team split the day with a 6-1 loss to the Missoula Strikers, an all boys select team earlier in the day. Nick Lawyer's U12 team carries a record of five wins, six losses and two draws, putting them in seventh place of 26 teams in Montana. Their next game is scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, at 6 p.m. versus Thompson Falls at Amundson Sports Complex.

"It was a good day yesterday. Our first game against Missoula Strikers was an exciting matchup for us, but we really didn't play effective defense in the first half and they scored five on us, all from defensive mistakes," said Lawyer, who has coached youth soccer from U6 to U20 for 12 years. Cody Pallister, formerly of Thompson Falls, is the coach for Libby, which has a 1-11 record.

The Missoula Strikers had the lead from almost the start of the game, said assistant coach Erika Lawyer. Eleven-year-old Ava Lawyer scored the only point against the Strikers and it came midway though the second half. "The Strikers are one of the teams in the state," said Nick. He added that the Missoula team has very technical players that can manipulate the ball very well. "They would just dribble right around us and because we had stepped to win the ball we were exposed in the back," he said, adding that his players tightened up in the second half and defended their turf better. Nevertheless, there were several close goals against Missoula, said Erika.

In the game against the Kootenai Rapids, Shylah Dalka, one of three players from St. Regis, scored the first goal for Clark Fork, which was followed up in the second half with a goals by Tristan Allen, Emilia Rivinius, Emery Josephson, Arrow Hyde, Katherine Wrobleski, and a second goal by Dalka.

Lawyer has six boys and nine girls on the team with players from Plains and St. Regis. Ava Lawyer is the goal leader with a dozen, followed by Emilia Rivinius with five goals. Twelve of Lawyer's players have scored this season, he said. Two players - J.D. Warta and Carter Goins have never played. A handful have played since age 4.

Lawyer said he's focusing on developing problem solving soccer skills. "I was actually very, very pleased with their attacking play in the Missoula game because the kids really did a great job attacking the weak side, getting in behind the defense, and delivering some tough to deal with balls into the box," he said. "We created a lot of scoring chances from both sides and from the middle. Now we just have to work on converting those chances into goals. That will be the focus for the next few weeks: converting scoring chances into goals."  

In other games Saturday, U13 Thompson Falls beat Libby 6-0, Frenchtown U16 defeated Clark Fork U15 5-1, Clark Fork U15 beat U14 Stevensville 5-0, Clark Fork U19 beat Polson U17 3-1, and Clark Fork U19 beat Stevensville U16 4-2.