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Flathead Girls Soccer Secures State Tournament Berth

Bravettes continue turnaround season with 4-0 rout of defending state champions

By Andy Viano
Flathead's Skyleigh Thompson, center, celebrates a first-half goal with teammate Heather LaSalle, left. Flathead defeated Helena High 4-0 on Oct. 18, 2018. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

One year ago this month, the Helena High School Bengals were celebrating a Class AA state championship while the Flathead Bravettes sat at home, licking their wounds after a second consecutive winless regular season and third straight year that ended without a spot in the state tournament.

What a difference a year makes.

Fourth-seeded Flathead throttled No. 5 Helena 4-0 at Legends Stadium on Thursday afternoon in a play-in match, sending the Bravettes to the state tournament for the first time since 2014 and putting a remarkable exclamation point on one of the most surprising seasons in the state under first-year head coach Bledy Doda.

Flathead (6-5-2) has won more matches this year than its senior class had, combined, in the prior three seasons (4-33-3), and the Bravettes will have a chance to win a match at the state tournament for the first time since 2013 when the double-elimination event kicks off Oct. 25 in Helena.

Helena (4-6-3) and Flathead had split a pair of 2-1 decisions in the regular season, but Thursday’s contest was one-sided from the start. The Bravettes struck first, just eight minutes in, when Heather LaSalle lined up on a set piece from 40 yards out and delivered a beautiful ball into the box where senior Shayenn Thompson touched it past the keeper for her team-leading 12th goal of the year. Her younger sister, Skyleigh Thompson, made it 2-0 five minutes later off a LaSalle corner.

The Bravettes put the match out of reach early in the second half when Elena Jimenez corralled a loose ball and deposited it in the net in the 46th minute, and less than two minutes later Skyleigh Thompson added her second goal. The younger Thompson is just a sophomore, but she followed up an All-State freshman season by scoring seven goals and adding five assists so far this year.

Flathead’s first round opponent in the state tournament will be Eastern Conference champion Billings Skyview (12-0-0) at noon on Thursday, Oct. 25. Regardless of the result of that match, Flathead will be back in action Friday, either in the loser-out bracket at 11 a.m. or the championship bracket at 1:30 p.m.

Pick up the Oct. 24 issue of the Flathead Beacon to read more about this year’s surprising Bravettes.