Girls take soccer conference crown
The Columbia Falls girls soccer gutted out a great week with two clutch wins and a tie over Whitefish to win the Northern A conference title and gain home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Wildkats will open the postseason Saturday at noon against Laurel, the second seed in the east. Laurel beat the Kats in the state final last year, but the Kats beat them earlier this season 2-1 in Laurel, so it should be a great game.
The girls won the conference by beating Bigfork Oct. 5 away 8-0 and then they beat Polson 3-1 at home Oct. 8 and wrapped up the regular season with a 1-1 tie over rival Whitefish away Saturday.
The girls finished the season with an 8-2-2 overall record and a 6-1-1 conference mark.
Against Whitefish, the Kats were down 1-0 at the break, but righted the ship in the second half.
Ellie Johnson, who’s been clutch for the Kats all season long and runs the offense from the wing, hammered in a shot at the 51-minute mark on a sweet feed from Hannah Gedlaman to tie the game. Just a few minutes before, Johnson took a ball right to the face which left her on the ground for a few seconds before she could recover.
“Ellie’s been clutch all season,” said coach Greg Trenerry. Gedlaman and center Katie Price along with Johnson have formed a formidable offensive threat down the stretch. Gedlaman had a hat trick against Bigfork. Against Polson, Tavia Bechtel had two goals — one on a penalty kick — and Johnson had an insurance goal at the 79th minute to knock the Lady Pirates out of first place in the conference.
Trenerry said he was very pleased with the team’s performance.
“I give them a lot of credit,” he said. “After playing three games this week, they went out and got it done.”
Columbia Falls 0 1 — 1
Whitefish 1 0 — 1
W — Julia Houston (Haley Nicholson), 17:00
CF — Ellie Johnson (Hannah Gedlaman), 51:00
Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 18, Whitefish 8; Goalie saves — Columbia Falls 4 (Allyson Gimbel), Whitefish 13 (Kess Nelson); Corner kicks — Columbia Falls 11, Whitefish 2; Fouls — Columbia Falls 5, Whitefish 4; Cards — Columbia Falls 1 yellow, Whitefish 1 yellow.