HAMILTON — Charlize Ullrich scored her first goal of the season at a good time.
In a State A soccer semifinal on Saturday at Hamilton, another Whitefish senior, Delaney Smith, was fouled in the 18-yard box in the 71st minute, and the senior center back had to take the penalty kick. Smith normally would be in charge of the penalty kick, but the striker hurt her ankle on the play.
On a windy afternoon, Ullrich scored for the guests by booting the ball just under the crossbar and into the middle of the net. The last-place team in the state’s tournament won 1-0 and got to go back to the playoffs.
Black Bears’ first-year coach, Kelly Ordway, said, “Charlize is very steady, and we’ve been working on her penalty kicks a lot this week because we thought it might come down to a shootout.” “Charlize has made every one, so we felt pretty secure with her taking that shot.”
That is, she’s made all of them in practice. Ullrich had never taken any in a game before this weekend, so she had to be a little worried.
It was routine for her.
“Usually I try to stay pretty calm and try not to think too much — just pick about the same spot or the same side of the goal and stick with that,” he said.
This season, we’ve done a great job of getting used to the fact that we lost four really good senior starters from last year and got all new teachers. We’re feeling strong and sure of ourselves. I like how well we’re moving the ball around.
Bulldogs (9-3-1) lost a lot of players to graduation. Keeper Norah Schmidt, who is now on the Gonzaga team, was one of them.
Solem, a junior, has taken over for Schmidt, and on Saturday, she played with confidence, stopping the Broncs (9-3-1) from scoring even though they had several good chances, especially late in the game.
During the game, a strong wind from the north played a part. Even with the wind at their backs, it was hard for both teams to put together passes.
“If we had won the coin flip, we would have asked for the wind in the first half because I thought it would be an advantage to go ahead and go full blast and get a lead and get the momentum going,” he said. “They won the coin toss but I thought we had strong momentum going into the second half after some strong 50-50 challenges up top that we won.”
When Delaney won a one-on-one challenge outside the 18-yard box and went for the goal with the ball, the game looked like it was going to extra time with less than 10 minutes left in the half.
She couldn’t take a shot because of a slide hit just outside the goal area. As the referee blew his whistle, she fell to the ground.
Ullriich got ready to take the penalty kick, but she had to wait while helpers helped Smith leave the field. Ullrich didn’t give up and made the shot that won the game.
This coming Saturday, the Bulldogs will have to go on the road to play Laurel. It will be either Billings Central or Columbia Falls in the state championship game for the winner.
Laurel beat Bigfork 3-0 on Saturday to move on to the next round. During the regular season, Whitefish and Bigfork played each other twice.
Another two losses for the Bulldogs were to Billings Central in the first week of the season and to Columbia Falls on a long shot that gave the Wildkats the No. 1 place in the North.
