MISSOULA — The header is a soccer technique that requires practice and a decent pain threshold because, let’s face it, few on the planet enjoy taking a sharply hit ball off the cranium.
For those that embrace the art, the reward can be handsome. Just ask Helena sophomore Talia Demers, who broke a scoreless tie in the 72nd minute against Missoula Hellgate Saturday in a clash of Western AA powers at Rattlesnake fields.
“That was the first header I’ve had in high school — it’s been one of my goals since last season, so I’m really happy I finally got one,” she said of her game-winner off a corner kick. “I have one of my teammates (Kiera Schulte) help me with it, we go practice them, so it’s nice I was able to apply that to the game.
“We were practicing corner kicks yesterday and I just found a good position right on the outside of the 6 and running front post and Stella (Hilton) served a perfect ball into me. She hit it right in between the defense and the goal and it was really easy to get a head on it.”
The win was extra sweet for the Bengals (6-2) because they were coming off arguably their toughest loss of the season to crosstown rival Helena Capital. Helena moved into second place in the Western AA despite being without head coach Hunter Terry for the trip to Zootown.
“It was really big,” Demers said. “We’ve rivaled with Hellgate a lot through the years and we were really nervous going into today. I think we stepped on the field and forgot about the nerves and just fought to the end and put the game away.”
The Knights, who dropped into third place at 5-2-1, had extra motivation to beat Helena after losing to the Bengals earlier this month, 4-2. For a while it looked like Hellgate was going to get its revenge, creating good scoring opportunities for Kennedy Peterson and Molly Dombrowski early in the second half.
But Bengals sophomore keeper Lillia Foley was a force. She stayed tenacious even after being forced to exit the game temporarily after she was kicked in the face late in the first half.
“These players are warriors. They come back to fight. They want to battle,” said Helena third-year assistant coach Heather Kentzel, who filled in for Terry.
“Hellgate is always a tough crew to play. Whenever you’re playing a team a second time, they know what to expect and it just makes for a really good battle. Our girls have trained hard to get results and they did today.”
Sentinel, whose only blemish on its record is a tie against Hellgate, leads the Western AA. The Spartans beat the Bengals 4-3 earlier this season in Missoula and the teams will play again on Oct. 18 in Helena.
In boys action Saturday at Rattlesnake fields, Hellgate whipped Helena, 8-2. The Knights improved to 7-1, with their only loss coming to Helena Capital.
Bill Speltz is Missoulian sports editor. Contact him at bill.speltz@406mtsports.com or on Twitter @billspeltz
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