LAUREL - Class A soccer's defending girls state champions looked every bit the part Friday night in their season opener at home.
Laurel jumped out to a 4-0 halftime lead and increased it to 9-0 with just more than 20 minutes left on the way to a 9-0 victory over Frenchtown. A soccer mercy rule was implemented this season, meaning if a team leads by 10 goals the game becomes final no matter how much time remains on the clock. Every dressed out player for each team saw action.
Laurel sophomore Mya Maack, one of last year's leading goal scorers in Montana, led the Locomotives with a hat trick after scoring the game's first two goals. Sister Morgan and senior teammate Kadee Grammar each scored twice.
"It felt great, being so worried about not being able to have a senior season," Grammar told MTN Sports after the match. "And I want all the underclassmen to have a fun season with the seniors for their last year. I was just worried that we weren't going to play, and then just getting out there, it felt great. Not a lot of places get to play like we do,"
Senior Tiegan Harper led some key defensive plays.
"I think we did really good," Harper said, "because it's always different (game day) than in practice where we're scrimmaging each other. We never really know what the other team is going to be like. But (Friday), once we got out there, we looked really good. We were connecting, talking."
The Locomotives (1-0) play at Hamilton next Saturday.
Boys: Frenchtown 4, Laurel 0
Braydon Simpson and Jeffrey Jacobs scored two goals apiece, while Cole Westrom and Dimarcus Moua added assista for Frenchtown in a 4-0 win over Laurel's boys.
Simpson also assisted on both of Jacobs' goals.
The Broncs scored three in the opening half and tacked on one more after the break. They also dominated shots on goal 33-2.
Laurel's boys entered extremely young under new head coach Tom Maack after graduating double-digit seniors following last year's title-game appearance. Noah Berg kept the final respectable, saving 29 of 33 shot attempts in goal for the Locomotives.
Frenchtown (1-0) visits Billings Central on Saturday. The boys play at 10 a.m., followed by the girls at noon on Amend Park's new turf field.
Laurel's boys (0-1) join the girls at Hamilton next Saturday.
