PRIEST RIVER — Priest River boys soccer faced a tough opponent in their opener on Thursday, but showed a lot of promise.

"We did great," head coach Daryl Hall said. "There's a few little skill issues, but overall they improved leaps and bounds from the last game last year. To me, that's all I look for is improvement each game."

Stillwater Christian School handed the Spartans a 4-0 defeat.

The Cougars opened the scoring in the ninth minute when a corner kick found the foot of Clayton Cole-Tinkham in the box. Stillwater Christian added to its advantage in the 20th minute following a blocked shot in the box.

Then in the 25th minute, the Spartans looked destined to find the back of the net when senior Bowen Fegert sent a free kick inside the box that found the head of freshman Tyler Engelson.

Engelson thrusted the ball toward the goal, but unfortunately the shot went just over the crossbar.

Just two minutes later, a turnover by the Spartans in front of the net allowed Stillwater Christian to score again. The Cougars carried the 3-0 lead into halftime.

Stillwater Christian continued to control the pace in the second half and broke through for their fourth goal in the 72nd minute.

Priest River refused to let up and that drive nearly led to a score in the closing moments of the game. In the 78th minute, senior Bradley Gleason drove toward the net and fired a shot that was saved by the Cougars' goalkeeper. However, the rebound found the foot of sophomore Carson Hughes, who had a wide open net in front of him. Hughes shot clanked off the inside off the right post and the ball rolled across the front of the goal before the Stillwater Christian keeper jumped on it.

The Spartans were inches away from avoiding a shutout.

As Thursday's game went on, Hall said his team got more and more comfortable with each other on the pitch and he expects that chemistry to continue to grow in the coming matches.

Stillwater Christian outshot the Spartans 23-9. Offensively, Hall said his team needs to work on spreading out and making crisper passes to generate more scoring chances.

Junior goalkeeper Luke Butler kept Priest River in the match with his 11 saves. Hall said Butler was a force between the pipes.

"He's gotten even more aggressive this year and better," he said.

Priest River (0-1) hosts St. Maries at 11 a.m. Saturday.

First half — 1, Stillwater, Clayton Cole-Tinkham (Creed Norick), 9:00. 2, Stillwater, Trustin Norick (Hayden Remington), 20:00. 3, Stillwater, Remington (unassisted), 27:00. Second half — Remington (unassisted), 72:00.

Shots — Stillwater 23, Priest River 9.

Saves — Stillwater, Dominic DeMario 3; Priest River, Luke Butler 11.