Alex Strickland/Bigfork Eagle - Ariana Shults heads the ball against Columbia Falls on Saturday. The Vals tied the Wild Kats 2-2.

By JORDAN DAWSON / Bigfork Eagle

Saturday afternoon Bigfork head girls' soccer coach Hauna Trenerry returned to her old stomping grounds in Columbia Falls. For the first time though Trenerry, who played for the Wild Kats and assistant coached for them, was rooting for the visitors. To make the game more interesting, her dad Greg is the head coach for Columbia Falls and her older sister has taken over as assistant coach. Bragging rights will have to wait for next time though. The teams tied 2-2.

"It was weird to play them," Hauna said. "We have similar styles of play and similar coaching styles, and I know a lot of the girls on their team."

Bigfork sophomore Caitlin Charlebois was the first to score for either team at 13:00 assisted by sophomore Quinci Paine. McKenzie Kizer scored for the Wild Kats with an assist from Elana Potter at 20:00. Paine put one in at 59:00 to give Bigfork the lead again, but Kizer scored again at 70:00 to tie the game up. Columbia Falls took 15 shots on the goal and Bigfork took 11. Becca Denning, a senior, had 13 saves for Bigfork. Niesha Thompson, Columbia Falls' goalie, had nine.

"Columbia Falls was coming off a tough loss to Whitefish and they came out hard to redeem themselves," Hauna said. "(Bigfork) stepped and played though. It was back and forth the whole game. This was the first time Bigfork has even come close to beating Columbia Falls."

Last Tuesday the Vals took on Stevensville at home beating them 6-0. The game was scoreless until the 43 minute when Christina Thompson, a senior, knocked one in, assisted by Charlebois. Senior Jami Podobnik scored next at 53:35, assisted by Thompson. Charlebois scored the next three goals. She was assisted first by Logun Koch, a junior, at 65:35, then by freshman Miranda Miller at 66:30 and by Thompson at 68:00. Thompson also scored the last goal of the game at 70:00 with an assist by junior Taylor Shiltz.

"They started slow, but after the half they regrouped themselves and came out and played hard," Trenerry said. "It ended a lot better than it started."

Bigfork took 19 shots on Stevensville's goal to their three shots on the Val's. Anna Tom of Stevensville had 11 saves at goalie. Denning had three for Bigfork in her second shut out of the season.

The girls played in Whitefish on Tuesday. They play Polson today, Sept. 25, at 5 p.m. in Bigfork. The results of both games will be in next week's Eagle.