Kats soccer squad returns 11 juniors

Last year, the Columbia Falls girls soccer team fell just short of winning the Northwest Class A conference by virtue of a tie against Polson. The Wildkats are looking to right that ship this season.

“We want the title back,” coach Greg Trenerry said.

This year’s team has just three seniors — Skye Hatfield, Megan Seliger and Lyndsey Strouse — but it returns 11 juniors. The Kats’ main loss on offense is Haley Purdy — she moved out of state. But they still have a lot of quickness in Kendra King, Tavia Bechtel and Ellie Johnson. Strouse has a solid shot from the midfield.

The girls also have a solid defense, Trenerry said.

“We have our defense back,” he said.

There’s some freshmen talent as well, including Hannah Gedlaman who looked sharp in practice as a forward.

The Kats have 24 players this year, so they could sub out twice completely and still leave a couple on the bench.

Last year’s team went 6-1-1 in conference play and 7-3-3 overall. Their lone conference loss was to Whitefish.

The Kats will be tested by eastern Montana squads once again this season, as their first four games are against Eastern Montana teams.

They open against Belgrade and Park County high schools on Sept. 4-5 and then are home against Laurel and Billings Central on Sept. 12-13.

In the Northwest conference, Whitefish is always tough, and Polson now has a spring club team and should be improved, Trenerry said. This is Trenerry’s 18th year coaching the Kats. He’s assisted by his daughter, Nicolette Bales.