Lady Loggers lose two games on the road

The Lady Loggers soccer team dropped a pair of road games this past weekend against two of the top programs in the state.

They lost the first game of their road trip 9-0 to Billings Central on Friday and fell to Laurel 7-0 Saturday.

“Billings Central is probably going to win the state championship this year,” head coach Joe Cik said. “They won six straight championships up until last year when Laurel won it. We played the top two teams in the state this weekend and they are always tough.”

Despite the lopsided score, Cik said his team played a competitive match against Laurel.  “The Laurel score wasn’t indicative of how close the game was,” he said. “We played well in that game. We played the night before and had a long bus ride. We hung tough with them until the second half. I think our girls lost their legs. We were more competitive than the final score would indicate.”

Despite failing to score a goal, Cik said his team stayed positive and fought hard against two tough teams.

“I was happy with how the girls continued to compete,” he said. “They never quit. They played hard all weekend. They kept fighting and that’s the most important thing. They never gave up.”

The Lady Loggers’ goalie, Shannon Reny, finished the road trip with 28 saves. Cik said he’s been impressed with her play this season.

“There are not enough good things you can say about Shannon,” he said. “Even the line judges during the Laurel game kept turning around and commenting on how great she was.”

It was a long road trip for the Loggers program and Cik said he is thankful for the support the program received from the parents.

“I want to thank both the boys and girls parents who put in the extra effort for this trip to help us out,” he said. “Some of them volunteered their professional services and helped out with injuries. The parents did a great job and they are great representatives for the school district.”

The Lady Loggers will look to get their first win of the season Saturday, Sept. 19, at Columbia Falls.

“We will be getting back some experienced players that missed this weekend due to illness,” Cik said. “I think our passing will improve greatly this week. We will have fresher legs. We won’t have a long trip and that will help us. We will have a full week of practice to work on things and come out and be competitive Saturday.”