Kats soccer splits pair, boys drop two
Maddie Robison looks to pass the ball ahead during action against Whitefish Tuesday. The Wildkats fell to the Bulldogs 3-2 but bounced back to defeat Polson Saturday, 5-3. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Niels Getts battles for the ball during action against Whitefish Tuesday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
By JEREMY WEBER
Hungry Horse News
It was an up and down week for Columbia Falls soccer fans as the Wildkats split a pair against Whitefish and Polson while the Cats dropped both matchups.
It was a battle of two of the top-ranked teams in the state Tuesday as the Wildkats hosted Whitefish. After holding the Bulldogs without a shot for the first 15 minutes of the game, the Kats fell behind and could not recover as they fell 3-1.
“The girls’ game was pretty ugly, to be honest. These are two teams that are battling for first in their conference and there was a lot at stake. Both teams seemed to be a bit nervous,” head coach O’Brien Byrd said. “We controlled the ball for the first 15-20 minutes and after we got scored on, we kind of folded. We let ourselves get shook up. We forgot about our game plan and let all of our preparation go right out of the window. It was a tough loss, but we look forward to playing them again next week.”
The rematch will be in Whitefish Sept. 27.
Abigail Shaffer scored the game’s first goal at 16-minute mark and Olivia Potthoff pushed the Bulldog lead to 2-0 with another goal at the 60-minute mark.
Josie Windauer cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal for the Kats at 62 minutes, but Potthoff put the game out of reach with another goal for Whitefish at the 75-minute mark.
The Wildkats bounced back with a road win in Polson Saturday as they downed the Lady Pirates 5-3. The Kats jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see Polson come back with two unanswered goals to tie the game at 2-2. After Columbia falls went ahead 3-2, the Lady Pirates once again tied the score. It was all Columbia Falls from there as the Kats scored the final two goals of the contest.
“We were able to keep our focus this time. They scored three goals on us but our concentration never wavered,” Byrd said. “Kaylee Ashe had the best game of her career and Maddie Robison came up big for us with a pair of goals.”
In boys action, the Wildcats held top-ranked Whitefish scoreless in the opening half for the first time this season but could not hold the Bulldogs off down the stretch as Columbia Falls fell to Whitefish, 4-0.
“I don’t think it was really a 4-0 game. Two of the goals we gave up were on silly mental errors. I thought it was an incredible performance by our team,” Byrd said. “We gave a lot of effort and didn’t lose our composure when we fell behind. We stuck with our plan.”
Keeper Story Stemborksi had 13 saves for the Wildcats in the loss.
The Cats had a rough outing in Polson Saturday as they fell to the Pirates, 6-0.
“Polson is also a really good team. We let silly mistakes hurt us again,” Byrd said. “We let our focus down and it cost us.”
Both teams were in action at home against Stevensville Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. C-Falls will host Libby Saturday, beginning with the boys at 5 p.m.