Girls get two big wins
<p>Grass flies as Wildkat defender Cortney White stops the ball during their game against Whitefish.</p>
The Columbia Falls girls soccer team is on a roll. They knocked off rival Whitefish 4-3 in a come-from-behind victory Sept. 15 and then drubbed Bigfork 5-0 the next day.
The Whitefish win put the Wildkats in first place in the Northwest A conference with a 4-0 record. The girls are now 6-1 overall, their only loss being to Belgrade.
The game in Whitefish wasn't easy. The Lady Bulldogs scored first when Megan Danczyk knocked in a goal at the four-minute mark, but the Wildkats responded with a shot by Julia Burgi to tie the game two minutes later.
Whitefish took the lead again at the 14-minute mark, but Burgi sailed a beautiful shot over Whitefish keeper Pepper Greenwood to tie the game at two apiece at the 35-minute mark.
"We started out with a couple of mistakes in the back," coach Greg Trenerry said. "But we stepped up in the second half and that was good. It was huge for us to get up two."
In the second half, Madison Sandefer scored at the 59-minute mark to make it 3-2. The Kats then cushioned the lead when Danielle Delventhal scored three minutes later.
The Kats dominated most of the second half, keeping the ball on the Lady Bulldog's side of the field. But after Delventhal's goal, Whitefish put the press on, and Caroline Carbo scored at the 66-minute mark. Wildkat keeper Kira Kamrud made a couple of clutch saves in the closing minutes to preserve the lead.
Against Bigfork, the Kats had a slow start and were up just 1-0 in the first half. They scored four in the second half, however, to knock off the Valkyries 5-0. Bigfork had no shots on the Kats. Delventhal and McKenzie Kiser each had two goals for the Kats.
"We started out a little slow," Trenerry said. "But the girls were a little tired (from the game the day before)."
The girls face Polson at home Saturday. Game time is 11 a.m.
Columbia Falls 2 2 - 4
Whitefish 2 1 - 3
W - Megan Danczyk (Natalie Gayner), 4:00
CF - Julia Burgi (Danielle Delventhal), 6:00
W - Mackenzie Thomas (Madison Grady), 14:00
CF - Burgi (Madison Sandefer), 35:00
CF - Sandefer (Delventhal), 69:00
CF - Delventhal, 62:00
W - Caroline Carbo (Kayla Simmes), 66:00
Shots - Columbia Falls 19, Whitefish 17. Saves - Columbia Falls 6 (Kira Kamrud), Whitefish 12 (Pepper Greenwood). Corner kicks - Columbia Falls 5, Whitefish 3. Total fouls - Columbia Falls 5, Whitefish 3. Yellow cards - none. Red cards - none.
Bigfork 0 0 - 0
Columbia Falls 1 4 - 5
CF - Madison Sandefer (Danielle Delventhal), 21:00
CF - Delventhal, 44:00
CF - Delventhal, 52:00
CF - McKenzie Kiser (Delventhal), 53:00
CF - Kiser, 58:00
Shots - Bigfork 0, Columbia Falls 19. Saves - Bigfork 12 (Alexandra Dillon), Columbia Falls 0. Corner kicks - Bigfork 0, Columbia Falls 5. Total fouls - Bigfork 1, Columbia Falls 2. Yellow cards - none. Red cards - none.