Kayla Marker was a Bulldog heartbreaker Saturday afternoon.
The Billings West sophomore midfielder scored two second-half goals to give the Golden Bears a 2-1 win over the Butte High girls’ soccer team at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
The loss was sour ending to Butte High’s Senior Day celebration, which saw the Bulldogs play at the East Middle Schools stadium for the first time in school history.
“It’s tough,” Butte High coach Sean Cleverly said.
Marker’s second goal was a long shot in the 79th minute of the 80-minute match.
Kaitlyn Bennett scored a goal in the second minute of the game, and the Butte High defense held on a long time.
Marker tied the game in the 64th minute.
“We’re improving and certainly we’re competing with teams,” Cleverly said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to do better in the second half.”
Clerverly praised the play of his goalkeepers, Natalee Faupel and sophomore Maria Michelotti.
Faupel played the first half before Cleverly moved the senior, a two-time All-State player at center mid, back to her normal position in the second half.
“We wanted to see if we could get Nat up there with fresh legs,” Cleverly said.
The Golden Bears, though, were on the attack the whole second half, and finally the dam broke on the Bulldogs.
“We were dodging a bullet the whole second half,” Cleverly said. “Maria did a good job, and it’s not on her.”
The coach also praised the play of Aidan Amtmann and Alberta Dean.
“We did some really good stuff,” Cleverly said.
The Bulldogs (0-5-1) are back in action Thursday at Great Falls High.
Butte High returns to the stadium at East Oct. 2 for a makeup of last week’s game with Billings Senior that was cancelled because of smoke.
