Lady Pirates soccer falls to Billings Central, Laurel

The Polson Lady Pirate soccer team dropped two non-conference games to Laurel and Billings Central.

The Lady Pirates, just like their Pirate counterparts, also were originally scheduled to play two games. The first game was scheduled against Laurel Thursday at Polson and then they were scheduled to host Billings Central Saturday at Polson High School.

Lady Pirates’ coach Jamie Whealon said playing Laurel and Billings Central was a good way to test his younger team. Last season, the Lady Pirates played Billings Central and forced a shootout in the Class A semifinal match. The Lady Pirates graduated a total of 12 seniors from the team.

“Billings Central and Laurel are two of the best teams in the state and they get to at least play up to that level,” Whealon said. “They are building time to get to that level.”

The Lady Pirates fell to Laurel 4-2 and were shutout in their Billings Central game 6-0.

“They are a good team with some young players that are really good and older seniors that are leading them,” Whealon said of Billings Central. “I feel like if they traveled all the way here it would have been a different game because in the second game, the girls had nothing left against Billings Central.”

Despite getting shutout by Billings Central, Whealon expressed confidence in his team’s ability to get to the Lady Rams’ level.

“Watching Billings Central, I think our team has the capability to get there,” Whealon said. “I don’t think we are at Billings Central’s level yet but we are headed that direction after we competed against both of those teams.”

The young Lady Pirates are still getting acclimated to the varsity level.

“I think they are realizing the varsity level isn’t as scary,” Whealon said. “They are big and fast. As they get more experience and grow that confidence, we are going to have a very solid squad.”

In the loss against Laurel, Ashlee Howell scored both goals for the Lady Pirates. Howell scored them at the 73-minute mark and the 77-minute mark and got the assist from Marina Mayorga.

“I think they are going to find out late we are going to travel and we have to get ready and mentally prepare for that,” Whealon said. “They will handle the adversity even better in the future and playing two games back-to-back won’t even happen come playoff season. It is good preparation for us, one way or another.”