A week filled with promise, dashed by injuries

The last week of the regular season started out on a high note for the Columbia Falls boys soccer team. They had a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Bigfork Oct. 6 away and were tied at 1 apiece against conference leader Polson at home a couple of days later.

But then Logan Stephens went down with a shoulder injury after a collision with a Pirate on a breakaway and the team sort of faded away after that. With Stephens out and with defender Daniel Carr out with an injury he suffered against Libby, the boys ended up losing to Polson 2-1 and then on Saturday, were drubbed by Whitefish 4-0.

On Tuesday, the Cats' season ended in a playoff play-in game when they lost to Libby, 3-1 on the road. the Cats held a 1-0 lead at the half, but Libby scored three goals in the second half to win.

The boys looked flat against the Bulldogs and lost another player to injury — Alex Garate got hurt in that affair.

“We turned in a poor performance against Whitefish,” coach O’Brien Byrd said. “I was disappointed in that.”

The Cats finished the season at 4-5 in conference play and 5-8-0 overall.