Shutout times 2

Glacier's Liam Ells (6) and Brecken Evenson (15) celebrate after Ells' second goal of the first half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Emmery Schmidt (21), Gracie Winkler (10) and Lucy Holloway (12) celebrate after Winkler's goal in the second half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Liam Ells (6) scores a goal in the first half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Gracie Winkler (10) sends a shot towards the goal in the second half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Alex Hoerner (20) heads a ball in the second half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Lucy Holloway (12) has a scoring attempt stopped by Helena Capital keeper Ashlynn Cornwell (10) in the first half against of the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Liam Ells (6) sends a shot towards the goal in the second half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Emmery Schmidt (21) lofts a shot on goal which scored when a Capital defender kicked it into her own net trying to clear the ball out of bounds in the first half of the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Liam Ells (6) celebrates with Alex Hoerner (20) after scoring his third goal of the game in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Bailee Dahlman (11) has a passes to a teammate in the second half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Liam Ells (6) splits two Helena defenders for his third goal of the game in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Lucy Holloway (12) directs a shot in the first half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Elias Holly (3) sends a shot towards the goal in the first half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Reese Ramey (22) pushes the ball upfield in the first half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Creed Norick (4) pushes the ball upfield in the first half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Neve Travis (5) pushes the ball upfield in the first half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Liam Ells (6) heads a ball off a goal kick in the first half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Gracie Winkler (10) makes a move on defender in the first half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Alex Hoerner (20) sends a shot towards the goal in the second half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Lucy Holloway (12) pushes the ball upfield in the second half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Brayden Jenkinson (10) sends a shot towards the goal in the first half against Helena in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Bailee Dahlman (11) moves past a Helena Capital defender in the second half in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Glacier's Neve Travis (5) directs a ball into the box in the first half against Helena Capital in the first round of the Class AA playoffs at Legends Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

by JON ALLEN
Staff Writer | October 23, 2024 12:00 AM

Tuesday was all about the Wolfpack.

Gracie Winkler scored as the Glacier girls bested Helena Capital 2-0 and Liam Ells had a hat trick for the Wolfpack boys as they defeated Helena High 3-0 to advance to the AA soccer quarterfinals Tuesday at Legends Stadium.

The Wolfpack girls controlled the action against Capital and found the opener in the 23rd minute when Lucy Holloway found herself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The freshman couldn’t put it home, but the rebound popped out to Emmery Schmidt who played the ball back to the middle where a Bruins defender directed it into the net for an own goal and a 1-0 Glacier lead.

“Part of offensive strategy is to be crashing the net, and I was doing that,” Schmidt said. “The ball went to the end line, and I just put it back in middle and luckily for us the other team had a bad touch and it went in the back of the net.”

Winkler doubled the advantage in the 49th minute as she beat the keeper from distance thanks to an assist from Holloway.

The Wolfpack defense stepped in from there as they dominated the match against Capital, only allowing the Bruins to put three shots on target — and Hailey Burke was there to stop all three.

“Capital is a good quality team that we really need to concentrate on movement of the ball,” Wolfpack coach Doug Mello said. “Hailey Burke earned her fifth shutout of the year after coming in as a JV defender more-or-less, and Gracie Winkler had another bang of a shot.”

Mello also noted defender Abby Hewitt on the Wolfpack backline who personally marked 15-goal scorer Katerina Routzahn, not allowing many opportunities in the game.

The best chance for the Bruins came just a minute before Winkler’s goal as Sophie Shanight put a shot off the left post from outside the box. The rebound fell to Burke though and the chance ended.

Offensively the Wolfpack had chances to extend the lead but were unable to convert as a 64th minute corner bounced around the box before Bruins keeper Ashlynn Cornwell could corral it. Then in the 70th minute Kylie Shine put a shot just to the right of the cage.

With the win Glacier advances to play Bozeman on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Capital 0 0 - 0

Glacier 1 1 - 2

G — Own goal, 23:00

G — Gracie Winkler (Holloway), 49:00

Shots on goal — Capital 3, Glacier 16. Keeper saves — Capital 9 (Ashlynn Cornwell), Glacier (Hailey Burke) 3. Corner kicks — Capital 1, Glacier 14. Fouls — n/a. Cards — none.

Glacier boys 3, Helena High 0

Ells and the Wolfpack boys came out firing from the start against the Bengals.

“We knew we had to work, they took us down last time, so we knew that work ethic would be the key,” defender Elias Holly said.

Just six minutes in Brayden Jenkinson fired a shot just over the bar and five minutes later Ells put his first shot just right of Bengals keeper Trey Peterson.

Helena had their chances early as well: A free kick from the right side in the 16th minute bounced past Malachi Lilly and was cleared off the line at the last second for the Wolfpack.

One minute later Ells broke the seal on the game with a breakaway from just over the midfield line, thanks to a pass from fellow captain Bryce Remley. Ells slotted his shot past the keeper to give Glacier the lead.

“We played good team soccer, and we rose to the occasion,” Remley said. “We all just came together; we knew what needed to get done and we did it.”

Just before the halftime whistle Ells doubled the advantage for Glacier as Brecken Evenson found the senior, who headed it home for his second of the game.

Ells completed the hat trick in the 57th minute, carving through the defense and putting it home from 15 yards out.

“I told the team before the game that I would buzz my hair if we won today, so I guess I really wanted to buzz my hair,” Ells said. “The first one, Bryce played me a beautiful ball over the top and I just had to stay composed. Then, the second one was another good setup and I was in the right spot. On the third one I had to make a little something happen.”

The Wolfpack shut down the Bengals from that point onward, not allowing any significant chances for the rest of the match.

With the win, Glacier advances to take on Gallatin in the semifinals on Saturday.

Helena 0 0 - 0

Glacier 2 1 - 3

G — Liam Ells (Bryce Remley) 17:00

G — Ells (Brecken Evenson) 40:00

G — Ells 57:00

Shots — Helena 3, Glacier 5. Saves — Helena 1 (Trey Peterson), Glacier 3 (Malachi Lilly and Carter Schlegel). Corner kicks — Helena 0, Glacier 3. Fouls — Helena 2, Glacier 2. Yellow cards — Helena 1.