Glacier boys, girls roll into AA state soccer tournament
The Glacier boys and girls soccer teams kick off this afternoon in the first round of the Class AA state tournament at Fort Missoula.
The Glacier boys earned the second overall seed in the Western AA, securing a bye week ahead of today’s noon start against Billings West. The Wolfpack (8-1-3) had its best regular season in school history and carries its highest-ever seed into the game.
The seeding allowed Glacier to take the last two weeks off, giving the Wolfpack a chance to regroup and work on fundamentals ahead of the tournament.
“This is all new for us,” Glacier coach Ryan Billiet said. “We’ve never come in with a bye. We tried to use the time to our advantage in terms of training. We worked through certain things that we haven’t had the opportunity to do the entire season.
“Our last four weeks we (played twice a week). We ended up winning our last five games and getting a bye, it was a really fantastic finish. This was a good opportunity for us to step back and focus on training. The challenge is to keep it high-level and game-like. The guys did a fantastic job of that. This week was the subtle but quick buildup (to state).”
While it’s a long time off, Billiet said he isn’t worried about his team catching back up to tournament speed.
“The tone of our guys right now is fun,” Billiet said.
“I’m sure there will be some time to settle in. But, I honestly think our energy is going to be extremely high. They’re hungry, they’re ready to play.”
Seniors Brady Schultz (11 goals, 6 assists) and Rohit Tappeta (9 goals, 7 assists) are both in the top six of scoring in the Western conference and have helped the Wolfpack become the fourth-best offensive team in the state.
The Wolfpack beat West 2-0 in the preseason, but Lucas Gerbasi and the Bears grew into one of the tougher outs in the East, only losing to top seeds Bozeman and Billings Senior in the regular season.
“We’re not concerned about (West), I’m sure they’re a completely different team from Day 1. We’re a different team from Day 1,” Billiet said.
“I think it will be fun for both teams to face each other again and have the opportunity to play into that semifinal.”
The Glacier girls earned their way into the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Missoula Hellgate last week, taking the West’s third seed. The Wolfpack advanced to play Eastern No. 2 Billings Skyview, a team it hasn’t played in more than four years.
“They’re having a blast,” Glacier coach Brenden Byrd said of his team entering the tournament. “They’re so excited about this. The pressure’s gone to get to the tournament, now they’re just excited to play some quality soccer at the state tournament.
“We know that (Skyview is) a very competitive team. I think we match up really well with them.
“The big thing we learned is to stick to our game. If we stick to our game and do what we do, that’s where we’re going to be most competitive.”
Glacier senior Cadie Williams powered the Wolfpack to a win with a hat trick in the play-in game, and has powered Glacier all season, scoring a state-best 27 goals this season.
“Teams can focus on Cadie but they can’t overlook what happens with Madison Becker and Taylor Brisendine,” Byrd said. “The reason Cadie gets the ball is those girls’ work rate.”
Glacier plays Skyview at 2:30 p.m. today to start the tournament. The winner advances to the semifinals to play the winner of top-seeded Bozeman and Missoula Big Sky.