Seniors will be missed for Lady Pirates

LIBBY - The Polson girls soccer team said goodbye to eight seniors last Saturday as the Lady Pirates ended their season in Libby.

"The team bonded well," Polson head coach Micheal Hewston said. "It was almost a family-like atmosphere by the end of the season."

Seniors Sarah Devlin, Reegan von Wildenradt, Jacie Morrison, Katie Finley, Laura Rost, Jordan Hinshaw, Molly Ricketts and Rainee Vassar put in a lot of time at the soccer field.

"It's totally sad to see them go," Hewston said. "It goes deeper than just this team."

Hewston said that he has coached many of them since sixth grade and that next year would be the first time he wouldn't have members of this group on his roster.

"We want to wish the girls their absolute best in their college careers," Hewston said.

Hewston employed a fast-paced combo style of play and it proved to be successful as the team scored 19 goals on the season. They won two games, including one in conference. The Lady Pirates needed to beat Bigfork last Thursday and Libby on Saturday to make the playoffs. Both games were close, but Polson fell 2-0 and 5-3 respectively. Seniors vonWildenradt and Devlin had goals in the Libby game, along with junior Brynn Rowley. Hewston said that the signature moment of the season, was when the Pirates went into halftime against Columbia Falls down 5-1. Instead of giving up, they gave the Wildkats all they could handle and nearly pulled off the comeback, falling 5-4.

"The resilience was never so profound to battle back to 5-4," Hewston said. "That's a feat in itself."

That's exactly what the team wanted to do, be competitive, and they did just that all season long. The team next year will be full of youth as many freshman coming up have the talent to play for Polson. What they lack in experience they should make up in youthful exuberance.

"These kids are new, energetic freshmen looking to put their mark on the game," Hewston said.