Lady Bulldog soccer fueled for upcoming season
Whitefish's Charlotte Perkins, left, and Sofie Saurey, right, play against each other during a girls soccer practice at Smith Fields on Thursday. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish players Olivia Genovese, left, and Maddie Muhlfeld, right, play with their team during a girls soccer practice at Smith Fields on Thursday morning. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
The Class A state final slipped away last year when Whitefish lost to Laurel 3-2 in overtime — and that’s something the Lady Bulldog soccer team hasn’t forgotten.
That was a disappointing end to a spectacular season during which Whitefish finished 11-1-1 and only allowed eight goals prior to the final match. But Whitefish is moving into the new season with that memory fueling their desire to simply be better than they were the year before.
“You don’t want to lose and you don’t want to have it end the way it did, but I think we held ourselves high,” Whitefish girls soccer head coach Roland Benedict said. “I think my job as a coach is to prepare the players and give them something more than they had last year — more knowledge, different mindset, better fitness, give them more and let them play every game.”
Although another chance at a state title is obviously on the mind, Benedict says it starts with the first game of the season and that’s what the team is keeping their focus on for now.
“You can’t go win a state title tomorrow, you have to win the first game you play,” he expressed. “We can’t win it all in one day.”
Benedict says the team only lost two seniors from last year — forward Ali Hirsch and goalkeeper Sami Galbraith — but those two were captains and an important part of the program. Galbraith in particular was a four-year starter in goal for the Bulldogs and one of the best female keepers in the state, but the coach says she helped prepare the backup keepers last year to fill her role after she moved on. Sophomore Norah Schmidt will be the starting keeper for Whitefish this fall.
“I think Norah is going to pick up right where she (Sami) left off,” Benedict said. “Norah put some work in on her own, Sami helped prepare her, and because of that I don’t think we’re going to lose too much back there.”
The Whitefish squad has a whole host of seniors this season too, many of them all-state and all-conference selections last year. Senior Emma Barron was a leading scorer and an anchor for the team at her center midfield position. She returns along with eight other seniors.
“Every player in that senior class from freshman year to now is still in the program, still playing and most if not all of them are starters,” Benedict said. “That’s a massive soccer group, they’re going to be the heart and soul of the team.”
Girls soccer kicks off the season at Smith Fields in Whitefish on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Frenchtown.
