SOCCER: Glacier boys play on at state
Micah Reason’s first goal of the season snapped a 1-1 tie in the 70th minute and gave Glacier its second state tournament win in program history, a 3-1 victory over Billings West in a loser-out match Friday morning at Kidsports Complex.
The win advances Glacier (8-8-1) to Saturday’s fifth-place match against Billings Senior. The Wolfpack had won just one of eight state tournament matches in the school’s 10-year history prior to Friday.
For the Wolfpack, this win marked a dramatic turnaround from an 8-2 loss in Thursday’s quarterfinals against Bozeman. That recovery, to Glacier coach Ryan Billiet, mirrored his team’s comeback from a 2-5-1 record to start the season to even reach the state tourney.
“Getting the win today puts us at least in the top six in the state this season,” Glacier coach Ryan Billiet said. “After the first half of the season, I don’t think anybody would have thought we could be there. To stay the course and improve and learn from game situations and adversity, it’s a testament to the sacrifice, commitment, patience and composure of this team.
“The goal [Saturday] is to end with a bang and why not — we’ve gotten ourselves to this point. We only have 80 minutes left.”
Against the Golden Bears (10-6-1), Glacier had scoring chances in the first half but neither side was able to find a goal. At the break, Billiet prodded his team.
“It was good for us to regroup at halftime and say ‘possession’s all fine and dandy and shows how far we’ve come, but we have to put something away here,’” he said.
It took just three minutes in the second half for that to happen. Dyllyn Stabler served one into the box for Tyler Keller and the junior headed the ball in to give the Wolfpack its first lead of the tournament.
Caden Satrom tied the game for West in the 55th minute, but Glacier continued to press and Conner Heil fed Reason, a defenseman, for the match-winner with 10 minutes to go.
“I’m so glad because [Reason]’s played so well as an outside back,” Billiet said. “Our outside backs got forward a lot and it was nice to get them freed up a bit.”
Rohit Tappeta added a goal in the 78th minute to round out the scoring. Brady Schultz assisted on that tally.
Glacier will tangle today with a Senior team that blew out Butte 5-1 on Friday. The Broncs (11-3-2) are the second seed out of the Eastern conference but were upset by Helena in the quarterfinals.
“We just looked at it as two tournaments,” Billiet said. “Our goal was to advance and play Saturday and were able to achieve that today, which was fantastic. We’re playing a really good Billings Senior team [Saturday] and we wouldn’t want to finish the season any other way.”
Saturday’s state championship match will pit a pair of Missoula schools against each other. Western conference champion Missoula Hellgate beat Helena 1-0 in overtime Friday afternoon and will take on Missoula Sentinel after the Spartans beat Bozeman 2-1. The title match will be played at 12:30 p.m.
Bozeman and Helena will battle for third place at 10 a.m.
Glacier 0 3 — 3
Billings West 0 1 — 1
G — Tyler Keller (Dyllyn Stabler), 43:00
BW — Caden Satrom (unassisted), 55:00
G — Micah Reason (Conner Heil), 70:00
G — Rohit Tappeta (Brady Schultz), 78:00
Shots on goal — Glacier 17, West 11. Saves — Glacier 10 (Andrew Lorenc), West 14 (Ryan Cornwall). Corner kicks — Glacier 3, West 2. Fouls — Glacier 2, West 6. Cards — Yellow: West 2.
Loser Out
Billings Senior 3 2 — 5
Butte 1 0 — 0
BILLINGS SENIOR (Goal Times Not Available) — Josh Greer, Charlie Klepps, Mauro Bustillo, Jason Miller, Mason Chorike.
BUTTE — Zach Archibald, 10:22.
Semifinals
Missoula Hellgate 0 0 0 1 — 1
Helena High 0 0 0 0 — 0
MH — Sam Carnes, 99:00
Missoula Sentinel 2 0 — 2
Bozeman 0 1 — 1
MS — Dylan Farnes, 27:00
MS — Kevin Thomas, 28:00
B — Fritz Arnold, 43:00
GIRLS
Loser Out
Billings Senior 1 1 — 2
Helena High 0 0 — 0
BS — Paige Hatzenbihler, 37:00
BS — Bailly Woodring, 80:00
Skyview wins 4-3 in shootout
Billings Skyview 1 2 0 0 — 3
Missoula Hellgate 2 1 0 0 — 3
MH — McKell Wilson, 11:00
MH — Georgia Kazemi, 23:54
BS — Allie Helmer, 26:51, pk
BS — Halle Lambert, 48:54
BS — Sommer Walker, 52:22
MH — Shawna Inama, 87:58
Shootout
Billings Skyview — Helmer, Lizzy Light, Aubrey Braun, Labert
Missoula Hellgate — Ava Kazemi, Addison Scott, Wilson
Semifinals
Helena Capital 0 2 — 2
Billings West 1 0 — 1
BW— Lexi Bloyder, 22:11
HC — Brynn Walker, 75:14
HC — Walker, 80:00
Missoula Sentinel 0 0 — 0
Bozeman 1 2 — 3
B — Abby Ross,32:36
B — Keely Kempt,4235
B — Olivia Kaiser, 43:56
Saturday’s Schedule
Boys
Fifth/Sixth
10 a.m. — Billings Senior vs. Glacier
Third/Fourth
10 a.m. — Helena High vs. Bozeman
Championship
12:30 p.m. — Missoula Hellgate vs. Missoula Sentinel
Girls
Fifth/Sixth
10 a.m. — Billings Senior vs. Billings Skyview
Third/Fourth
10 a.m. — Billings West vs. Missoula Sentinel
Championship
12:30 p.m. — Helena Capital vs. Bozeman