Lady Pirates tie

LIVINGSTON — With junior defender Jamie Young going down with an ankle injury in the Lady Pirates (1-2-1) game against Park on Saturday, Polson head coach Michael Hewston needed somebody to step up.

That somebody was senior wing Katie Finley.

“She absolutely made a name for herself,” Hewston said. 

Finley is normally listed as a wing but buckled down and played great defense in a game that ended in a 0-0 tie. Polson had eight shots on goal.

“We had shots on goal but we weren’t on frame,” Hewston said. “Their game was beautiful. The passing was very good.”

It helped saved the weekend that started out with a 6-0 loss to Belgrade on Friday. It was 2-0 at halftime, but senior defender Molly Ricketts had to come out of a game with an injury.

“Molly’s leg has been bothering her,” Hewston said.

That loss caused Hewston to shuffle his lineup to have favorable defensive matchups, something that he had already been tweaking because of Belgrade’s top players, and Polson’s top offensive players had to focus on shutting down the other team’s offense instead of mounting an attack of their own. They were out shot 16-8.

Now the Lady Pirates will turn their attention to the Libby Loggers at 4 p.m. today at home.

“It’s huge,” Hewston said. “Libby was the team from last year that I’d really like to see the kids play  again to show that we can run on the field with them.”