Wildkat soccer aims for playoffs again

The Columbia Falls girls soccer team has a pretty simple goal this season — make it back to the state playoffs.

Even though the program lost 10 seniors to graduation, six of them starters, the team still has a solid core of young players, including forward Danielle Delventhal, who scored 30 goals last year, the most in Class A history.

The team has a two more solid forwards in Lexi Corbett, who transferred here from Missoula Big Sky, and sophomore Haley Purdy.

In the backfield, the Wildkats will be anchored by keeper Kira Kamrud and defensemen Meagan Seliger, Gabby Keller and Kinzie Howell.

The team also has nine freshmen looking to make their mark. All told, 20 girls made the squad, said coach Greg Trenerry, now in his 16th year with the program.

“I think we’ll have a good team,” he predicted last week. “We’ll surprise a few people.”

The first four games of the season will be a good test. Girls soccer opens Aug. 31 on the road against Livingston followed by Belgrade the next day.

The next week, two more eastern schools, Billings Central and Laurel, square off against the Kats at home. The east, particularly Belgrade and Billings Central, have two of the top programs in the state. The test will be good for the girls, Trenerry noted.

“Our first four games are real tough,” he said.

The Wildkats won the conference title last year. They went 10-1-1 but lost in the second round of the state playoffs to Billings Central, 5-0.

In conference play, Whitefish should be the team to beat again, Trenerry said. The Lady Bulldogs always have a quality program, he said.

Trenerry is assisted by his daughter, Nicolette Bales, who is also a kindergarten teacher at Ruder Elementary.