Season Ends for Glacier Girls, Boys Soccer
Conference champion Wolfpack girls upended by Billings West, boys thwarted by Hellgate in Missoula
By Andy Viano
Glacier High School’s historic girls soccer season came to an end on Wednesday, Oct. 30 in the semifinals of the Class AA state tournament.
The Wolfpack (11-5-1) dropped a narrow 2-1 decision to Billings West at Glacier High School, bowing out of the state tournament after an impressive year that saw the Wolfpack win twice in the postseason after earning the first regular season conference title in school history.
Glacier was the only team out of the Western AA to reach the state semifinals and fell behind the Golden Bears quickly on Wednesday, surrendering a pair of first-half goals and facing a 2-0 deficit at halftime. The Wolfpack got on the board in the 73rd minute on a Kenzie Williams goal but would get no closer. Glacier had 15 shots on goal to West’s seven. The Wolfpack graduate six seniors from this year’s team, including Emma Paulson (six goals, four assists), Alma Patrick (four goals, five assists) and keeper Sophie Smith.
The Wolfpack boys suffered a similar fate on Wednesday afternoon, falling to perennial powerhouse Missoula Hellgate in their own semifinal contest. The Knights won 3-0 on their home field to reach the Class AA championship match for the sixth season in a row. Hellgate won the state title in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Glacier (8-5-4) upset rival Flathead in the first round of the state tournament, then surprised Billings Senior on the road in the quarterfinals. The young Wolfpack will graduate only two players, Micah Heil (five goals) and Luke Wilson, and should return their top three scorers next year.