Class AA soccer: Bravettes hit the road; Glacier boys home at Legends

The Flathead Bravettes soccer team played Glacier three times this fall and beat them three times, one of those being a pretty important game.

Flathead hadn’t won a playoff game since 2018, despite consistent playoff appearances, so winning was special and made even sweeter with it coming against a rival.

In the 2-0 win, the Bravettes got goals from Lilli Rumsey Eash and Celie Vandenbosch. And they earned a trip to play the No. 1 seeded Bozeman in a state quarterfinal on Saturday.

The Hawks are a formidable opponent, in case their 13-0-1 record didn’t indicate that. Bozeman won back-to-back titles in 2016-17.

“Their record I think speaks for itself,” Bravettes coach Zach Brenneman said. “I haven't watched a game of theirs yet this season, so we know they're gonna be a tough team, but I think we can go out and do something special. I'm excited.”

Bozeman has a balanced scoring attack, with Maya Bossenbrook (12 goals, 11 assists), Lucy Al-Chokhachy (12 goals, five assists), Lauren Barckholtz (eight goals), and Macey Primrose (seven goals, 12 assists). The Hawks’ lone draw was against Billings Senior.

Flathead has Mia Stephan (six goals, one assist), Avi Schmautz (eight goals, two assists), Alivia Rinehart (two goals, two assists), and Vandenbosch (two goals, one assist), and will be without Rumsey-Eash Saturday due to a scheduling conflict with the All-Class state cross country meet in Kalispell that day.

The Bravettes enter Saturday as the fourth seed in Western AA; Tuesday’s win was their seventh of the season. Game time is at 3 p.m.

“I think we're playing our best soccer of the season and the girls seem to be playing like a team and supporting each other and working together,” Brenneman said. “We're just gonna go out and do that and hope it goes our way.”

Glacier’s boys are in the midst of a historic season after winning the Western AA conference and breaking Missoula Hellgate’s chokehold on the title.

The Wolfpack play host to Billings West for a 6 p.m. Friday night quarterfinal at Legends Stadium. West beat Great Falls High 4-0 on Tuesday in a first-round game.

“It's just exciting when you're in the state tournament essentially, and now you get to see a team you haven't seen all season long, so it just provides fresh eyes and a different look and it's exciting,” Glacier coach Ryan Billiet said. “We try not to focus too much on our opponent. We're just focusing on our preparation and our continued growth, and just enjoying every moment essentially as a team, as we prepare together.”

By virtue of its conference title, Glacier had a bye from the first playoff round. The Wolfpack was 13-1-0 in the regular season, that one loss coming from Hellgate (the teams split their season series).

“It's a testament to the commitment that these boys have made,” Billiet said. “All the credit goes to them and all of the work that they've done, not only this season, but off season and how far they've come in the past year.”

In 2021, Glacier made a run to the title game, falling 1-0 to Hellgate. Back then there were several sets of siblings up and down the roster, and the little brothers mostly watched it all. Now the younger set will get a chance to go on a run of their own.

“It's pretty cool seeing that next generation that has seen the height of the program a few years ago and then really worked tirelessly last season … just finding ourselves and kind of settling in after graduating, what was it, 15 seniors?” Billiet said. “And we did, you saw it just throughout the course of the season we had progressed and here we are again. It's exciting because certainly we continue to get stronger together.

“We're just excited to represent the community in the AA state tournament here on the boys side. And really grateful for the home match tomorrow night under the lights.”