Girls soccer: Bulldogs edge Wildcats
Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz with a shot against Whitefish Thursday. (Teresa Byrd photo)
The Columbia Falls girls soccer squad suffered its first loss of the season 1-0, against rival Whitefish at home Thursday evening.
“Whitefish is a really technically sharp team and have been for the last few years,” said head coach Thomas Clark . “But I thought we went toe-to-toe with them tonight and I thought we played well.”
The teams were 0-0 at the half. Bulldog Brooke Roberts scored the winning goal early in the second half and the teams continued to grapple for the rest.
The Wildkats outshot the Bulldogs 16- 11 but senior Whitefish goalkeeper Sami Galbraith matched the onslaught with nine saves.
Columbia Falls sophomore goalkeeper Zoey Byrd, returning to play her first game after two weeks off, held her own with five saves.
“Byrd was great, she was high off her line and played like a veteran goalkeeper for us,” said Clark.
Clark also highlighted holding midfielders LaKia Hill and Alexis Green who were asked to do a lot of work against a team constantly switching their point of attack.
“[The loss] doesn’t change what I think this team can accomplish or what our expectations are,” said Clark. “It’s certainly a little bit of adversity and it stings. But this group I’m confident will grow from this, and rally, and become a stronger team because of this.”
The Wildcats play next against Bigfork at home on Tuesday. Kickoff is at 5 p.m for girls and 7 p.m. for boys.