by Scott Sacry
The 2023 Stevensville girls soccer team has been awarded the 2023 Stockman Bank Team Sportsmanship Award for MHSA State Soccer. This award was given to highlight and celebrate outstanding team sportsmanship in the state soccer playoffs.
Stevensville’s head coach Eric Depee said of the award, “It is a really great honor. The cool thing is that it comes from the other girls and the other coaches and it shows how well our team was perceived by those other schools.”
The Montana High School Association noted the following qualities of the winning teams: they treated the opponent with respect, respected all contest officials, had pride in his/her performance, cooperated with the coaches and fellow participants, proudly represented the community, enjoyed the activity and promoted enjoyment for others, took pride in his/her school, exhibited grace in victory and dignity in defeat, and displayed positive attitude at all times.
“The assistant coach (Dave Gross) and I always tell the girls to have respect for the other players, the other coaches, and the officials,” said Depee. “And as a coaching staff we try to behave in the same way, so the players will have a good example to follow.”
The winners were, for Class AA: Missoula Hellgate Knights Boys; Missoula Sentinel Spartans Girls. For Class A: Billings Central Rams Boys; Stevensville YellowJackets Girls.