Bigfork girls soccer team filled with newcomers

The Bigfork High School girls soccer team is working hard to get all of its athletes on the same level before their season starts on Saturday, Aug. 29, with a home game against Columbia Falls.

"We're moving a couple people around and changing up some positions," said BHS Head Girls Soccer Coach Hauna Trenerry. "We're working on possession right now and trying to get everyone caught up and on the same page."

The squad lost a total of nine players from last year's team, including five graduates and four girls who chose to transfer to other schools.

"We're low on numbers," Trenerry said. "We don't have a lot of depth. It's hard to not have subs for the girls. Player to player they can go up against anyone in the state. But we don't have as many girls as most of the other teams and they get worn down."

There are just two seniors on this year's team, Kaitlyn Shults and Lena Olson. The team is gaining four freshmen all of whom have played youth soccer, including Danielle Keeler who will take on the role of goalie. Last year Becca Denning filled the position, but she has since graduated. Trenerry's assistant coach from last season, Charlie Appleby, has returned for the upcoming season and will again focus on training the goalies.

Also new to the team is sophomore Sara Keenan, who played youth soccer prior to high school. She chose to play golf as her fall sport in high school, though, which is no longer a problem since Bigfork plays golf in the spring now in accordance with the school's switch to Class B. Junior Taylor McElroy is returning to the team after taking her sophomore year off and Kylee Sillivan, a sophomore, will be playing for the Vals for the first time this year. Sophomore Maci Guardado, a new student from California, has also joined the team.

Trenerry said that the team will start the season with 16 girls, half of which are new to the team.

"It will take a little bit, but we'll get them there," Trenerry said of her team. "They have a positive attitude and they are working really hard. I think we have some solid returners that will help us in the games and in practice."

The Vals game against the Kats will start at 1 p.m. at Carlisle Johnson field, where all home BHS soccer games are held.

It will be a non-conference game even though Columbia Falls is in the same conference as Bigfork. Both teams are short a non-conference game so they were matched up to play three times this season, with the first not counting on their conference record.

The boys and girls soccer teams are the only athletics programs from BHS that will still play in Class A because soccer is not offered in Class B. BHS first became a Class A school in the 1997-1998 school year. In 2001 the school added a soccer program which competed solely on the junior varsity level before stepping up to varsity the following year.