CMR, GFH soccer home this weekend

With only four matches left in the regular season, it's crunch time for the C.M. Russell and Great Falls High boys’ and girls’ soccer teams.

CMR faces off with Bozeman on Friday while Great Falls High plays host to Billings West. The girls kick off action at 3 p.m. and the boys’ matches follow at 5.

The teams will swap opponents on Saturday with the girls starting at 11 a.m. and the boys at 1 p.m. All games are at Siebel Soccer Park.

The CMR boys (3-3-2) are coming off wins over Great Falls High and Butte and did not allow a goal in either game.

Rustler boys head coach Joel Marinaccio said he likes where his team is but said there is always room for improvement.

“All in all we’re progressing,” Marinaccio said. “We’re playing fair but we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”

CMR fell to Bozeman 3-0 on the road earlier in the season, but Marinaccio said he liked his team’s effort in the loss.

“Anytime you play in Bozeman it’s always going to be rough,” Marinaccio said. “So to have the score at halftime (1-0) and end up where we did was a good result for us. We’ve made some changes to give them some different looks but you can’t keep Bozeman down.”

The Rustlers fought West to a scoreless draw in Billings the last go around this season. Marinaccio said he thinks both teams have changed since the first meeting.

“We don’t look anything like we did the first time,” he said. “And if they’re anything like Billings teams usually are they’ll have gotten better at this point in the season. We controlled the possession last time and had like 10 shots on goal but we just couldn’t finish.

“We’ve made some changes the kids have bought into and we’re progressing which is what you want to see at this point in the season.”

The CMR girls (5-3) are on a hot streak offensively, scoring 12 goals in wins over Great Falls High and Butte.

Rustler girls head coach Willie Pyette said CMR is gaining momentum which is important as the regular season draws to a close.

“It’s really important to get on a roll at this point,” Pyette said. “And we’re on a roll now so I think we’re in a good spot.”

Bozeman dropped CMR in the previous contest, as the Hawks rallied from a 2-1 halftime deficit to win 5-2. Pyette said the Rustlers let their foot off the gas in the second half of that game.

“We need to play a full 80 minutes (Friday) because I feel like we only played 40 minutes last time,” Pyette said.

CMR took a 2-0 loss to West last month, but Pyette said his team has improved immensely since then.

“We’re staying in good defensive shape right now,” Pyette said. “Our offense has been a lot better too. This is going to be a tough weekend but we expect it to go better this time.”

The Great Falls High boys (1-5-2) are in need of a win, as their only win of the season came in the season opener against Butte. They tied Butte in last Friday’s road contest 2-2.

Head coach Lalo Cabrales said the Bison are in a bit of a rough patch at the moment.

“We’re not in very good shape right now,” Cabrales said. “We need to keep working. We’re improving our possession which can help us slug out games. There is still some time to improve.”

The Bison were bested 3-0 against West in September but Cabrales said GFH matches up well with the Bears.

“We have a good chance against West because there is not much of a difference between us and them,” Cabrales said. “We had two red cards in that game too so I think it will be better this time.”

GFH was bested 6-2 by Bozeman on the road in the first match up, but Cabrales said playing at home could make a difference.

“Obviously one of the best teams is Bozeman,” Cabrales said. “But we play them at home and we’ve changed our style. This is an extremely important weekend and the kids get it and hopefully they come to play.”

The Bison will be without standout midfielder William Edwards who is suspended for the rest of the regular season for a violation of team rules. Cabrales said Edwards’ absence is noticeable on the field.

“For right now we feel it missing him,” Cabrales said.

The Bison girls (2-6) of head coach Lindsay Smith are coming off a 2-1 win over Butte in which they topped the Bulldogs in the final minutes of the game.

GFH was dropped 3-0 by West earlier in the season, but Smith said there were a lot of positives that came out of that match.

“We did well against West last time,” Smith said. “They’re fast and physically aggressive and their one of the best teams in the conference and only getting better. But we’ve got a lot of confidence going in against them this time.”

The Bison played their worst game of the season against Bozeman, falling 9-0 on the road. Smith said as a team you just take what you can from a blowout loss such as that.

“Obviously Bozeman is a much stronger team than we are,” Smith said. “We’ve had two really bad games this year and that was one of them. You just have to build on it and learn from it.”

The Bison will be without junior defender Marissa Meyer, who Smith said is a leader on the Bison back line, as she suffered a concussion against Billings Skyview.