SPORTS

Prep soccer teams finish off preseason at Jamboree

Grady Higgins
ghiggins@greatfallstribune.com

The Great Falls High and C.M. Russell High girls’ and boys’ soccer teams are fixing to gain more than victories at the prep soccer Jamboree at the Siebel Soccer Complex.

The Rustler and Bison units take the pitch Saturday for a pair of shortened, nonconference exhibition matches each, all looking to build chemistry during the first live action of the year.

The GFH girls square off with the Missoula Hellgate girls at noon before a meeting with defending state runner-up Missoula Sentinel at 3 p.m.

First-year Bison head coach TJ IronBear said many of his girls have had the opportunity to play together through the years, whether it be in high school or club competition, which has helped make for a fairly smooth preseason.

“Some of these girls have been in the high school game together for a few years now and my incoming freshmen who will contribute have played together in club,” IronBear said. “And now that we’ve had a few weeks to gel, I think that we can become more of a unit and those other kids have to start watching out because when we’re together, we’re pretty solid.”

The date with Sentinel is a welcome challenge, IronBear said, but Saturday will be a good way to start building for the season ahead.

“If we can test ourselves right away to see what we can do for the next game or the next day, that’s perfect for us because if we get better every day, by the time the October games roll around, we’ll be more prepared,” IronBear said.

Emma Madsen and Marissa Meyer bring experience in the back line, while IronBear is also looking to experienced strikers in Quinn Mora and Rhyan Shultis to lead the charge on an offense that had troubles scoring goals at times last year.

The CMR girls face the task of replacing an experienced and accomplished senior class from last season, with nine new players starting.

The Rustlers take on state runner-up Sentinel at noon before a matchup with Kalispell Glacier at 3.

Senior captain Halley Myers said it’s a load off the Rustlers minds to not have the lofty expectations of looking to repeat as they were last year after winning it all in 2014.

“I like how we feel fresh and new and we don’t have any pressure to go out and win state,” Myers said. “We can just be who we want to be. There’s also a lot of positivity out there.”

While a berth in the state tournament is already understandably on the minds of head coach Willie Pyette and his players after losing a heartbreaker to Billings Skyview in the play-in game last year, gaining experience is the name of the game heading into the jamboree.

“We’re just looking to get a lot of playing time,” Pyette said. “By the time we play Saturday we’ll already have 20 practice sessions so just to get in a game-like atmosphere that you can’t simulate in practice and get these kids some varsity-level playing time.”

“We’re really excited because we haven’t really played together,” Myers said. “So, we’re just excited to see how it goes.”

The CMR boys are taking a new approach under Kumal LaCasse, as each week players will select a “first team” rather than having a set varsity and junior varsity, something the first-year head coach hopes will create competition and keep players hungry each and every week.

The Rustlers face off with the Sentinel boys at 10:30 a.m. before taking on Glacier at 1:30 p.m.

LaCasse said the goal of the jamboree is to evaluate what his players can do outside of the practice setting, adding that he’s feeling optimistic heading in.

“Obviously we want to have a good showing and see if the guys have been picking up what we’ve been teaching,” LaCasse said. “We’re excited about it. I wouldn’t say we’re ready to go (for the regular season), but we’ll see after this weekend.”

The Rustlers have a small but experienced group of seniors, led by defender Joe LaCasse and midfielders Nathan Painter and Corbin Merchant.

Merchant said he hopes the underclassmen see the jamboree matches as an opportunity to quickly get up to speed.

“I’d like to see the younger players step up and get used to the physicality of a high school game before conference,” Merchant said.

“I’d like to see the team not treat them like preseason games so we can go into the regular season strong,” Painter said.

Joe added that the underclassmen have been solid in replacing the pieces CMR lost to graduation last year.

The GFH boys are quite young but retain experienced starters in goalkeeper Shohn Smith and forward Hayden Van Son as well as talented sophomore Zack Herrera.

The Bison take on defending state champion Missoula Hellgate at 10:30 a.m. and face off with Missoula Sentinel at 1:30 p.m.

With many young players with little to no varsity experience poised to see the field this season, new head coach Steve Groshelle is excited to see what this year’s unit can do against the opposition.

“Some of the kids haven’t played varsity so it’s a matter of seeing them against some of the bigger, faster kids that they didn’t get to see last year,” Groshelle said. “It’s their next step up so they don’t have that nervousness when we play a meaningful game.”

Van Son said working with the underclassmen in the preseason workouts has helped him bring his game along.

“It’s difficult but I think it makes me a better player because I just don’t have just worry about myself,” Van Son said. “At first it was a bit shaky but after two-a-days we are starting to feel like a team now.”

Smith said while the team chemistry will take time to develop, he’s been pleased with the progress shown early on.

“We have a new coach this year and he’s worked us pretty hard and we’re in good shape heading into those games,” Smith said. “I feel like the teamwork might be a little off for now but it’ll be a good season.”

Jamboree Schedule (all games at Siebel Soccer Complex)

10:30 a.m.: GFH boys vs. Missoula Hellgate; CMR boys vs. Missoula Sentinel; Missoula Big Sky boys vs. Butte; Kalispell Flathead boys vs. Billings West; Helena High boys vs. Billings Skyview; Helena Capital boys vs. Billings Senior; Kalispell Glacier boys vs. Bozeman.

Noon: Missoula Hellgate girls vs. GFH; Missoula Sentinel girls vs. CMR; Kalispell Glacier girls vs. Bozeman; Missoula Big Sky girls vs. Butte; Kalispell Flathead girls vs. Billings West; Helena High girls vs. Billings Skyview; Helena Capital girls vs. Billings Senior.

1:30 p.m.: Missoula Big Sky boys vs. Bozeman; Missoula Hellgate boys vs. Butte; Missoula Sentinel boys vs. GFH; Kalispell Glacier boys vs. CMR; Kalispell Flathead boys vs. Skyview; Helena boys vs. Senior; Capital boys vs. West.

3 p.m.: Missoula Big Sky girls vs. Bozeman; Missoula Hellgate girls vs. Butte; Missoula Sentinel girls vs. GFH; Kalispell Glacier girls vs. CMR; Kalispell Flathead girls vs. Skyview; Helena girls vs. Senior; Capital girls vs. West.