Despite conceding a goal first, the Whitefish girls quickly recovered against East Helena on Saturday and ran away with an 11-1 victory. The big win came the day after Whitefish dusted off the rust in its first game of the season against Lockwood and won 3-1.

Whitefish this season has many players moving into new roles for the team and the first games of the season showed a bit of the learning curve. But that’s not without seeing a lot of promise out of the squad as well.

“We have lots of players that are experiencing a whole new system. Our formation hasn’t really changed a lot but the way we’re playing within that structure is vastly different,” Whitefish head coach Roland Benedict said. “Because of that, it takes some time to make the right decisions.”

Against Lockwood on Friday afternoon, the Lady Bulldogs took a while to get into a groove. Despite having 75% possession of the ball and numerous shots on goal, Whitefish took a 2-1 lead into halftime. Benedict says from the players to the coaching staff, no one was really happy with how they were playing and knew they could do better.

In the second half, the two teams played scoreless for most of the 40-minute clock until Whitefish’s Olivia Genovese sunk a shot into the back of the net in the final minute to further lead to 3-1.

Whitefish brushed off the first game jitters and headed to East Helena on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs conceded a goal in the 2nd minute and Benedict says it sort of shocked everyone.

Although East Helena got on the board first, Whitefish then proceeded to find its rhythm and score four goals in the first half followed by seven more in the second.

Whitefish sophomore Saide Olson had a hat trick while another sophomore forward Delaney Smith scored two goals and junior Olivia Genovese had two. Also finding the back of the net was Signe Ebbett, Brooke Roberts and Maeve Ingelfinger

Benedict was especially impressed with Ebbett and Genovese in the first two games, saying the level both are playing at is a great surprise for the program.

“Signe Ebbett in both games played exceptionally well in a new role, was very dynamic for us and was able to be very creative from a wide position,” Benedict said.

“Olivia Genovese has been really creating some of the emotional energy for the team, some of the grit and desire to get the results our team looks for…” he continued.

Whitefish now looks ahead to hosting Livingston (Park) and Lone Peak this week. The Lady Dogs will play Livingston on Friday at 5 p.m. and Lone Peak on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Smith Fields.

Full stats were not available for the games.

East Helena 1 0 — 1

Whitefish 4 7 — 11

Whitefish 2 1 — 3

Lockwood 1 0 — 1