MISSOULA– Soccer is back in Big Sky country, and both the Hellgate Knights girls and boys teams picked up right where they left off last fall. With dominant offense and movement to open their seasons, Hellgate rolled through their season debut matches on the Fort Missoula turf en-route to two big wins on Saturday morning.
Hellgate Girls 6- Flathead Bravettes 0
The Hellgate girls scored six unanswered goals to open up their 2023 campaign, after a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in last fall’s quarterfinals at the State tournament. Through the entire 80-minute match, the Knights held possession for the majority of the contest and worked a team dynamic that is one to watch this season.
Returning All-State Senior Carmen Anderson opened up the game with a goal assisted by Senior Chloe Anderson in the third minute. The Knights took the early momentum from the Bravettes, and never looked back from the first goal of the contest.
“Scoring the first goal of the season always feels good,” said Anderson. “I was just happy to help out my team by putting us on the board first, so that we could continue that momentum.”
Sophomore Elly Reed cashed in the second goal of the game in the ninth minute assisted by another returning All- State Senior forward in Riley Lumpkin, to make the score 2-0 and give the Knights a cushion early. More ball movement and possession would see Hellgate score again in the 34th and 35th minutes, by Anderson and Lumpkin to run the score up to 4-0 as the first half came to a close.
“At halftime we mostly talked about how we needed to come out with the same energy and intensity that we had in the first half,” said Anderson. “We knew that Flathead would still try and put us on our heels.”
The second 40 minutes saw AK Puryear score on an assist from sophomore Sadie Richardson in the 77th minute, before Flathead paced the Knights with an own goal to close out the scoring in added time before the final whistle blew to mark a 6-0 Missoula victory.
Added Anderson: “We only lost one senior last year, and everyone who came back from last year has gotten stronger, and there’s just a lot of talent on this team. Everyone is so competitive and we are all very eager to win that state title.”
Hellgate Boys 11- Flathead Braves 1
In the nightcap, the Hellgate boys followed up a fourth straight State title win in 2022 with a run-rule victory to kick-start their 2023 campaign strong with a win. Senior Kian Caudle scored a hat-trick as 11 different Knights played their way into the stats sheet under veteran head coach, Jay Anderson.
Hellgate scored four times in the first ten minutes of the contest to put the Braves away early. Caudle assisted Junior Fischer Garland in the second minute to spot the Knights a 1-0 lead before Garland then turned to Junior Luca Musco off a corner kick prior to the next 60-seconds of the clock having time to vanish. Caudle then scored an unassisted goal in the fourth minute before Flathead cashed in a penalty kick to make it a 3-1 game.
“We were trying to make sure that we didn’t come in overconfident,” said Caudle. “Just because we won the last few State titles doesn’t mean that we’re guaranteed anything. We have to work extremely hard to make sure we’ll make it back to the final this year.”
Senior Gabe Lewis assisted Caudle in the tenth minute to start a Hellgate run of eight unanswered goals. Andy Nutall scored off of a corner kick in the 13th minute, ahead of Senior Otto Stockman finding the back of the net in the 19th minute to make it a 6-1 Knight lead. More movement and great defense saw Hellgate stay in control of the ball all the way until the half, as the scoreboard glowed with a 9-1 home advantage.
“In the huddle at half, we talked about what we could improve on,” added Caudle. “Even though we were winning, there was still room for improvement. All of our opponents are looking at us as a hurdle to get to the finals- we have to grind it out and try to repeat our title.”
Senior Cameron Newbold opened up the scoring for half number two in the 58th minute to spot Hellgate with a 10-1 lead, as Caudle would score the final goal of the day for the Knights to send Missoula home happy with a 11-1 whirlwind victory to cap off a great day of soccer as one hour of play concluded.
Both the girls and the boys teams will head up the Flathead Valley to play Kalispell Glacier on 8/31, and then come home for a crosstown match against Missoula Big Sky on 9/7 for the next game in Zootown. Come out and support these awesome athletes as another great season of Hellgate sports gets underway!
