Bulldogs look to defend state soccer title

Bulldogs head soccer coach John Lacey knows expectations are high.

Following a state runner-up finish and a state title in the last two seasons, the Dogs are looking to have another big year with a deep roster, with 10 of 11 of last year’s starters returning to the pitch.

However, Lacey is quick to note this year’s team hasn’t won anything yet.

“We started from day one with the mindset that we haven’t earned anything,” Lacey says. “The things we’ve done in the past are not going to earn us anything this year, but we know what we can do. The guys want to play at that level. They have high expectations, but we’re not talking about championship, we’re talking about playing to our potential.”

The team is just wrapping up preseason practices as school starts. Their first game is against Columbia Falls next Tuesday at Smith Fields, starting at 6 p.m.

Last season the Bulldogs capped off an undefeated season with a 6-2 state title win over the Polson Pirates in October. The championship was the first for Whitefish since 2012, and the program’s sixth.

So far this season’s early practices have mostly focused on getting his players back in shape while avoiding injuries, Lacey says.

With a roster full of veterans, there’s less technical work to do be done early on. This year’s team returns a number of last year’s key players, including senior captains Ian Lacey, Casey Schneider, Joseph Houston and Sam Menicke, as well as senior keeper Colter Upton.

Menicke, Schneider and Houston all earned All State honors last year, while Lacey and Upton earned first and second team All Conference respectively.

“Most of the guys on this year’s team have now been with us for several years, and they’ve had two straight years of going all the way to the finals, so that’s a lot of extra games,” Lacey said. “There’s not a whole lot of new stuff we’re putting in. We’re just trying to reinforce what has got us those extra games these last couple years, we’re really working on our speed of play and that rhythm. We want to play together like a team that’s played together for three years, we don’t want to wait until October to do that.”

With this roster, Lacey says the bigger challenge is spreading out valuable minutes to his younger guys, so that next year or the year after he’s not having to start over with a fresh group of players without much experience.

“It’s a bit of an unknown how we’re going to manage those extra minutes. Some of these guys are in their fourth year, third year starting. It’s remarkable that they have played that much soccer for the high school already, now we need to find ways to get some other kids minutes,” he said.

The team will get its first test with a rival match against the Wildcats, which Lacey says is a tougher challenge than starting the season with just any old team.

“They always bring their best against us. We want to play well and we expect to play well,” Lacey said. “We’re focusing a lot on what we do. A team like Columbia Falls is very strong defensively. We know what they’re going to do and we know they’re going to be hard to play against. We also know if we’re patient and we play our game, we’re a hard team to play against for 80 minutes too.”

Whatever happens, Lacey says he and the team are just excited to get back on the pitch.

“I had a lot of fun last year and I’m really looking forward to trying to have another season like that. It’s fun when you get to win games and have the community support like we had in Whitefish,” he said. “It’s a great town to play soccer, so we’re pretty excited.”