BILLINGS — Billings Senior’s boys and girls soccer teams have had targets on their backs the first half of the season. The Broncs’ boys are the defending Class AA champions while the girls are off to an undefeated start.
They showed why they have targets on their backs on Tuesday.
The two Broncs’ teams combined for 11 goals and posted two clean sheets against Eastern AA foe Great Falls at Amend Park, with the boys winning 4-0 in the opener and the girls claiming a 7-0 victory.
Here’s how both matches went down:
Billings Senior 4, Great Falls 0 (boys)
Billings Senior’s boys soccer team netted two goals early in the first half to take a 2-0 lead into the break.
Jake Shelden corralled a clear attempt by Great Falls’ defense and hit the back of the left side of the net. Shortly after, a Koby Sandau corner from the right side was headed from the left side by Hayden Schnetter, whose header found the right side of the net.
Billings Senior’s two goals in the second half came in quick succession as well.
About 22 minutes into the second half, Vlad Pavlov converted a penalty kick to make it 3-0. And just minutes later, a nice pass from Pavlov from the left side to the right found Mathew Blake, who passed it to Dusty Cullingworth in the middle of the box. Cullingworth found the back of the net to make it 4-0 Broncs.
Billings Senior finished with 29 shots (14 on goal).
“I think we scored our goals when we were most structured, and we were in the right place at the right time,” said Broncs coach Jace Beck, whose team improved to 5-3. “With that said, I don’t think our finishing was the best. But our finishing was the best because we were at the right place at the right time, the way we’ve been practicing.”
The victory was also the second straight for Billings Senior, which had a three-game losing streak entering Saturday’s previous 2-1 win over Billings West.
“I think we had some wake-up calls, and we went to the drawing board and we’re looking to get better and working hard for it,” Beck said. “Wins are better than losses, but it’s really about the performance and energy and the work rates from the boys and the buy in — and that’s kind of been the emphasis.
“But these boys are talented. It’s just about putting it together at the right time.”
That’s something Beck said his team is still learning as it looks to defend its state crown.
“I feel like we’re still adapting to the seniors and the leaders that we lost, and still looking to see who’s going to step up in that position,” Beck said. “But I think we’re putting the pieces together.”
The Bison, meanwhile, fell to 0-7-1, but had all seven of their shots in the second half and limited the Broncs’ high-quality shots during the front half of the final 40 minutes.
“I’ve been trying to get these guys to understand the effort part of it and just wanting it more,” first-year Great Falls coach Travis Grealish said. “… I think it did help in the second half.
“… We’re just a young team, so there’s still some stuff that we need to learn. I think they’re going to learn it, and they’re getting better.”
Billings Senior 7, Great Falls 0 (girls)
Billings Senior’s girls soccer team has dominated its opponents so far this season, outscoring its foes 33-1 entering Tuesday’s matchup with Great Falls.
Tuesday was no different. The Broncs scored two first-half goals and rattled five in the final 40 minutes to post their seventh clean sheet this season, stay undefeated at 8-0 and beat Great Falls 7-0 for the second time this season.
“Honestly, just as a whole… we’re hungry, and we want to have success,” Billings Senior coach Steph Wagner said. “We’re willing to work with each other for that success. We’re having success finding the back of the net.
“But I think really, just as a whole, we’re a deep group. We’re a really driven group, we’re a very competitive group. And everybody is just really wanting to succeed this year.”
Helping drive a team effort from the Broncs — who fired 33 shots (19 on goal) while allowing none — was Meadow Mahlmeister. The junior forward netted a hat trick, with her first goal giving Billings Senior a 1-0 lead about 15 minutes into the match.
She then fired a shot outside the box around five minutes into the second half and scored on a breakaway chance after getting through defenders about five minutes later to make it 4-0 Broncs.
“For me, it was more about just taking defenders one-on-one,” Mahlmeister said. “Just really having confidence and taking those chances.”
Billings Senior’s second goal came on a free kick from the left side after an injury stopped action about 20 minutes into the first half. Emilee Bishop fired the kick into the box, and Morgan Grover headed it in to make it 2-0 Broncs.
Maggie Jenks, Brilee Waddell and Emmersyn Burckley all scored a goal in the second half as well, while goalkeeper Aza Trombley tallied 12 saves for the Bison (0-6-2).
“Going into the second half of the season gives us confidence obviously, but it also gives us motivation to try harder because we know we have a big target on our back,” Mahlmeister said. “So we’re just going to keep working harder.”
Email Jonathan LeBlanc at Jonathan.LeBlanc@406MTSports.com or follow him on X/Twitter @JLeBlanc_21.
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Jonathan.LeBlanc
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today