BIGFORK – Now in its 10th year, the Bigfork High School girls soccer program has never had a winning record.
And as the road to state may have gotten easier for other programs when the school dropped down from Class A to Class B, soccer stayed in the higher class. Class B doesn’t have soccer.
So here are the Valkyries, coming off a 2009 season that started with high expectations but was thrown off course by a series of unfortunate injuries. The 2010 Valkyries believe this is their year. This could be the team that turns it all around.
The Vals have five seniors. They have a roster of up-and-coming younger players. They have a first-year coach eager to rewrite the script for the program. And, as every other team in the state knows well, the Vals have Caitlin Charlebois.
“She’s just a great player,” coach Charlie Appleby said. “She has a great sense for the ball. She knows how to put balls into other players. Her shot is great – she can score from anywhere, from 18 in, at any time. She’s always a threat.”
But while Appelby, like others who have watched Charlebois, can pile on accolades, perhaps the most telling compliment – and probably the most important – is the praise over her unselfishness. If the Valkyries are going to earn a winning record and a trip to state, they must do it as a team.
It starts with Charlebois, who Appleby calls “our captain and core of our offense,” and seeps through the rest of the roster.
“That girl will do whatever it takes to help her team,” Appleby said. “She’s a team player and everybody on the team sees that and recognizes that. They like to get her goals.”
He added: “She tries to bring everybody else in, which breaks her free.”
Charlebois, an 18-year-old senior, is one of the top girls soccer players in Montana. As a sophomore, she scored 19 goals in 12 games. Last year, her goal total dipped, largely because she was focused more on distributing the ball to her teammates. Appleby points to that as evidence of her unselfishness.
In both her sophomore and junior years, Charlebois was named Class A all-state. She’s fast and fluid on the field, with an innate ability to differentiate between when it’s appropriate to dictate the action and when it’s better to let the action come to her.
Charlebois is a forward, but Appleby said he may drop her back to center-midfielder at times so she can run the offense as the core playmaker. She has played midfield in the past, for the same reason. Also a basketball and track standout, Charlebois’ athleticism allows her to seamlessly move to different positions.
While Charlebois does say she would like to be named all-state again, that’s about as much as anybody can get her to talk about herself. When a question is directed at her in the form of “you,” she translates the answer into “we.”
“If we play like we can, we’re in it with anybody this year,” Charlebois said. “I just want to help my team as much as possible.”
In 2008, the Vals finished with four wins, seven losses and a tie, which Appleby said is the best record in the program’s history. Last year, the girls expected even a stronger season, but quickly lost two key players to season-ending leg injuries.
Bigfork frequently had three or four players nursing injuries on the sidelines last year, which is hard on a program that barely gets enough girls to fill out the roster in the first place. This year, the team has 14 players.
“I still feel like 14 is short-handed,” Appleby said. “But if we can stay healthy, 14 is great.”
Despite injuries and the accompanying adversity, Appleby said his girls have maintained a “real positive attitude.” Appleby is in his first year as head coach, replacing Hauna Trennery. He was previously an assistant.
“We haven’t had the best luck or the best teams over the past couple of seasons,” Appleby said. “But this team just seems tight and ready to win. They believe that they can.
“They’re looking at each other and each other’s dedication and they leave it all on the field. And that’s what they’ve done for three years.”
Quinci Paine, a senior, has watched the Vals gradually improve in her four years. During her freshman year, she said the team would regularly get blown out. The Vals lost 9-1 to perennial contender Columbia Falls, Paine recalls. Last year, the two teams tied.
The Valkyries opened up this season by losing to Columbia Falls 5-1, but Paine said they’re still working out some kinks. The team is experimenting with two inexperienced goaltenders, who are improving daily but still finding their way. Paine plays both offense and defense, and was named all-conference last season.
“I feel we played better than the score said,” Paine said of the opening-day loss.
The Vals have to place in the top three out of five teams in Northern A to qualify for state. Last season, only the top two went. Northern A includes Libby, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Polson.
“We’ve never made it to state before, but this year we definitely have a chance,” Paine said.
As the Valkyries try to navigate the Class A landscape to the state tournament in October, they will look to their compass, Charlebois. If her play can be inspiring, so too can her love of the game.
“Since I’ve been little, I’ve loved pretty much everything about soccer,” Charlebois said. “I’ve never had a season that I regretted or didn’t absolutely love. Even the losing ones.”