The playoffs are here for high school soccer and three high school teams will be playing. The Hamilton girls have clenched the No. 1 seed in the south and will be hosting Polson, the No. 3 seed from the North. That game is at noon at Hamilton High School. The Stevensville girls will make their first appearance in the playoffs in several years. They are in third place in the south. They will play at Columbia Falls who is the No. 1 team from the North, on Saturday as well. Loyola finished in second place.
The Hamilton boys are in second place. They will travel to Belgrade to meet the No. 1 team from the East. That game will begin at 11am. Frenchtown finished in first place and Loyola in third for the boys.
Stevensville coach Stacey Sager said she is very proud of how her team turned around from last year. Their record last year was 0-11. They turned it around and finished with an overall record of 6-4-2 and conference record of 5-2-1. The conference tie was against Hamilton on Saturday and the non conference tie was against Columbia Falls earlier this season.
Sager said all of her players have really stepped up this season, Back this year after a year’s hiatus is Megan Pendergast who is very speedy and athletic. Along with her are Sami Merwin and Kylee Merwin who are both very athletic and competitive. Her ‘quiet’ players – Evyne Alexander and Alli Emery have also been strong offensively. Stevensville’s keeper, Jade Johnson has been very solid in the net and kept the Stevi team competitive.
In their final regular season game, both Hamilton and Stevensville scored their only goals in the second half. Stevensville scored first, at 47 minutes, when Pendergast found Kylee Merwin open for the goal. Hamilton’s only goal was at 68 minutes when Mallory McGill took the ball to the net in an unassisted goal. Hamilton had 15 shots on goal and Stevensville took eight. Maddy Martin had 13 saves for Hamilton and Johnson had six saves for Stevensville.
The Hamilton girls rolled over Frenchtown, 4-0. Tessa Della Silva found McGill open at five minutes for the first goal. Then Della Silva found Addie Gordon open at 24 minutes for goal number two. In the second half, Della Silva scored on a direct kick at 70 minutes and then again at 75 minutes. Frenchtown had four shots on goal and Hamilton took 10. Martin had two saves for Hamilton.
Loyola defeated Corvallis, 3-1. Corvallis’ only goal was scored by Frances Carrasco at 72 minutes. Ashlynn Nixon had nine saves for Corvallis.
The Hamilton and Frenchtown boys battled to a 1-1 tie. Hamilton scored at 18 minutes when Alan Garcia took an Aryton Duncan assist in for the goal. Frenchtown’s Caleb Stanicar scored at 65 minutes. Hamilton took five shots on goal and Frenchtown took six. Hamilton had five saves while Frenchtown had two.
The Hamilton boys defeated Stevensville, 7-0. Austin Drake had three goals and an assist. Duncan had tow assists. Alan Garcia scored off a Sam Bosio assist. Will Lowden scored on a Garcia assist and an unassisted goal. Jared McGourty scored the first Bronc goal. Ben Schreiber had 10 saves for Stevensville.