Shuman scores twice in Bravette win

Flathead girls drop Hellgate, but Knights get better of Braves

The Daily Inter Lake

MISSOULA - The Flathead Bravettes soccer squad played like a team in mid-season form on Thursday.

Junior midforward Chelsea Shuman scored two goals and the Bravettes blanked Missoula Hellgate 3-0 in their AA conference season-opener.

"Hellgate always plays us really tough. It's a great start to the season," said Flathead coach Scott Warnell, starting his sixth season as head coach. "You never know how you'll play when you first start, but everybody stepped up and played real well, all the way from the forwards down to the defenders and goalies."

Senior captain Kassi Hebert scored off an assist from Malia Ozegovich in the opening minutes of the game to put Flathead ahead. That was the difference until midway through the second half when Shuman took a pass from sophomore Tess Brenneman and scored.

Her second goal was unassisted and came later in the half.

The Bravettes have placed either third or fourth at state the past four seasons.

There are six returning starters from last year's fourth-place team, led by captains Hebert, Talyssa Gardner and Logan Koch.

Flathead heads to Glacier on Saturday for a 11 a.m. game.

Flathead 1 2 - 3

Missoula Hellgate 0 0 - 0

F - Kassi Hebert (Malia Ozegovich), 5:00; Chelsea Shuman (Tess Brenneman), 47:00; Shuman, 64:00

Shots on goal - F 9, H 10

Goalie saves - F 6 (Karli Kusler), H 5 (Molly Callahan-Baumstark, Anna Pickhardt)

Corner kicks - F 2, H 2

Fouls - F 14, H 10

Cards - F Red, yellow

Hellgate 8, Flathead 0

MISSOULA - The Hellgate Knights boys soccer team took advantage of a slim Flathead roster and won a substantial home conference victory.

"It was a tough opener," said Flathead coach Chris Putzler, starting his second-year as head coach. "We had a lot of kids just getting their varsity feet so to speak and realizing the speed that they have to play at and the effort they have to put forth."

The Braves graduated 12 seniors from last year's team and the lack of depth showed on Thursday as the Knights tired out the Braves early.

"I commend them with their effort for really only playing with 11 guys," Putzler said of the Braves. "They put forth a lot of effort. A lot of guys played almost the entire game."

The Braves are led by senior captain Cody Morritt.

Flathead faces Glacier on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Glacier High.

Flathead 0 0 - 0

Missoula Hellgate 4 4 - 8

H - Sam Snyder (Ian Hamilton), 2:00; Park Harmon, 20:00; Jonah Brown, 33:00; Brett Mathews, (Hamilton), 36:00; Brown, (Hamilton), 41:00; Hamilton (Brown), 46:00; Casey Higgins, (Harmon), 59:00; Lucas Matelich, (Brown), 72:00

Shots on goal - F 5, H 28

Goalie saves - F 12 (Jordan Remington), H 3 (Lucas Wittkopp)

Corner kicks - F 1, H 4

Cards - None

Fouls - F 8, H 12