Girls soccer looks to offseason
Libby junior Cierra Lucas moves in on Polson senior Ashley Howell in an attempt to steal the ball early in the first half of the Lady Loggers’ 7-0 loss Saturday. (Ben Kibbey/The Western News)
Libby sophomore Ruby Martin attempts to stop a shot on goal by Polson sophomore Autumn Burland early in the first half Saturday. (Ben Kibbey/The Western News)
Libby sophomore goalkeeper Bethany Thomas dives in for the save early in the first half Saturday. (Ben Kibbey/The Western News)
A 7-0 loss to Polson was a disappointing ending to the season for the Libby High School girls soccer team, though the season overall had successes in their coach’s estimation.
At the half, the Lady Loggers trailed the Lady Pirates 3-0, and Libby Head Coach Eric Kapan said the players knew how poorly they were doing. He told them they could fight for a comeback, but the second half went no better.
“Polson did a good job, but I don’t think they’re that much better than us,” Kapan said.
Unlike other games they played against teams that simply had more experience and played at a different level, Kapan said the Polson game came down more to effort for the otherwise fairly evenly matched teams.
Even with meeting his other goals for the season -- having the first win in years for the team with their two victories over Bigfork and having strong academics -- It was a bitter pill to swallow.
“You take a step back, and we achieved all the goals I was looking at as a coach to achieve already, but knowing what I know about them, they had the definite potential to do more,” Kapan said. “So I guess that was the disappointing part.”
Looking at the faces of the players who played the hardest, he said it was hard to see how they took it compared to the players who didn’t seem to mind the loss as much. Other players were simply quiet after, and it’s difficult to know how they took the loss, he said.
For now, he said he hopes that those who plan to return next year take the mix of their positives and negatives from the year and use it as incentive to train and improve for next year.