AA soccer: Glacier boys hope to extend season with win over Sentinel

A fourth straight trip to the Class AA state soccer tournament is on the line when Glacier hosts Missoula Sentinel in a play-in match Thursday.

Glacier (6-4-2) defeated Sentinel (3-9-0) 1-0 and 2-1 in their two regular season meetings, but the Wolfpack will have to play without leading scorer Matt Peters, who will sit out after picking up a yellow card in the regular season finale against Helena Capital. Peters has 6 goals and 7 assists this season.

Glacier coach Ryan O’Rourke said several of his players have experience at forward, which should soften the blow of losing Peters.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a terrible disruption because we’ve been doing that shifting and we’ve gotten some other guys comfortable in those positions,” O’Rourke said. “So I think we can plug some other guys in there and be effective.”

Despite ending the regular season in 6th place, Sentinel finished strong, winning two of its last three games, including a 3-2 win over first-place Helena High.

“When they decide to play well, they are a very difficult team to beat,” O’Rourke said.

Sentinel has scored 18 goals and conceded 23 for a goal differential of minus-5. Sophomore Adam Mickelson leads the Spartans with 8 goals and 3 assists. Senior Logan Drapes is second with 3 goals and senior Nick Evans has contributed 2 goals.

While Sentinel finished the regular season on a high note, Glacier didn’t close as strong, going 0-2-1 in its last three games, a tough stretch that included a 7-1 loss to defending state champion Missoula Hellgate, a 3-0 loss to first-place Helena High and a 1-1 draw with fifth-place Helena Capital.

Glacier finished the regular season with a minus-4 goal differential after scoring 21 goals and conceding 25. Freshman striker Colton Becker has 4 goals and 1 assist while senior midfielders Jake Lockwood and Tanner Maroney have 3 goals apiece.

Lockwood and Maroney both played prominent roles in Glacier’s three previous state tournament campaigns and O’Rourke is looking for them to lead the Wolfpack against Sentinel.

“I’m putting a lot of faith in those seniors to lead us through a difficult game and get us back to state,” O’Rourke said.

Even though both regular season meetings were decided by one goal, O’Rourke said his team matches up well with the Spartans.

“I think in both of those games we had a number of opportunities that we didn’t put away,” he said. “In terms of their team speed and how we match up, it’s a very good matchup for our team.”

The game kicks off Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Glacier High School.