BILLINGS – It’s a new era for the Billings Skyview girls soccer team.
“Any coach’s dream is to basically be the team people are prepping for,” said Skyview head coach Cameron Icenoggle. “How do you deal with them?”
The Falcons couldn’t be more excited to finally be that team.
“Literally I’m at a loss for words,” gushed senior forward Ashlyn Braun. “I can’t explain the feeling, it’s incredible. I know we could have been this good. It’s just crazy that we are this good.”
Believe it. Skyview is 8-0-0, outscoring its opponents 34-2. It starts up front with the Eastern AA’s leading scorer, Jordan Roe.
“It’s been really exciting for me to be able to put my opportunities away,” said the junior forward. “They definitely put me in perfect positions to score, so I don’t just do it all by myself. I’ve got an awesome team behind me.”
That’s the thing – don’t expect any of these girls to let success go to their heads. The Falcons have seen the other end of the spectrum, and they have no intention of going back.
“Some teams might get that thing in their head like, ‘We’re the best in the conference right now.’ And they just think they’re going to win every game,” said Braun. “I think we’re one game at a time. We have to win this game.”
Case in point: a 3-0 win over Billings Senior Tuesday night, completing the sweep of a team that has ended Skyview’s season the past two years. But just getting to the State AA playoffs isn’t enough anymore for a program that has never won a title, even if the players don’t want to admit it out loud.
“Personally, I have to win state. Senior year, I have to win state,” Braun said sheepishly. “But one game at a time, that’s all I’m going to say. One game at a time.”
That has worked eight times so far. Seven more would mean history.
