Bulldogs top C-Falls for Class A crown
KATIE BROWN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
Whitefish holds the Class A state championship trophy after their win over Columbia Falls at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 28. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Georgia Morell (4), Olivia Genovese (10), Delaney Smith (9), Isabelle Cooke (20) and Macie Schmidt (7) celebrate after Smith's goal in the second half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish players celebrate after their 3-1 victory over Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 28. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Delaney Smith (9) scores a goal in the second half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish celebrates after a goal in the first half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Columbia Falls Josie Harris (12) passes into the box defended by Whitefish's Charlotte Perkins (23) in the first half of the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Isabelle Cooke (20) heads a ball on goal off a corner kick in the second half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish goalkeeper Norah Schmidt (1) makes a save in the first half of the Class A state championship against Columbia Falls at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Columbia Falls goalkeeper Erica Burguiere (1) makes a save against Whitefish's Delaney Smith (9) in the second half of the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
WHITEFISH –– The third time's the charm for the Whitefish Bulldogs on Saturday, who claimed their first Class A girls soccer title in 17 years with a 3-1 win over the Columbia Falls Wildkats.
Whitefish fell short in two previous finals, last year and in 2020.
“It felt like it was a titanium wall we were trying to get through,” Whitefish coach Roland Benedict said. “It feels amazing. I don't even like to be the one doing the interviews. For me it's about the players. And honestly, since I've been the coach here, every single class we've had has laid the foundation for the team to play the way that they played today and be able to win this game.”
Benedict is in his eighth year as head coach and he served two years before that as an assistant.
Columbia Falls pinned Whitefish in its own end for much of the first half, but Olivia Genovese buried a rebound from Taylor Dorvall’s corner kick in the 35th minute, and suddenly the Bulldogs were rolling.
Isabelle Cooke joined the party four minutes later and Whitefish led 2-0 at halftime.
"I told them when the momentum changes like that, it's something that happens when you are able to get a little bit of belief,” Benedict said. “And we talked about the belief in knowing, and once you get the goal, it's like, we knew we could do it.”
The Wildkats had a number of chances, but Whitefish keeper Norah Schmidt was the difference.
Schmidt had a scare in the first half, where she banged her head on the post during a save. She didn’t leave the game, and it might have been hard to convince her to do so.
“We did a little mindset training about kind of setting some fears and burning fears, and the fear that she had that she wrote down and burned was dying,” Benedict said. “She didn't wanna leave and have a regret on her deathbed of not performing well in this game. So you would've had to kill her to get her off the field.”
After the half, Delaney Smith found the back of the net to give Whitefish a 3-0 lead.
Columbia Falls kept pushing back and Josie Harris scored off a corner kick late in the game.
“I think we started the game off really well,” fifth-year Wildkats coach Thomas Clark said. “We created a lot of chances. We were kind of dominating possession and we weren't able to finish. That's what the game comes down to is we didn't finish our chances and they did.”
Clark notes that there were seven Columbia Falls underclassmen on the field for most of the game, and the momentum swing before the half was undoubtedly deflating, not to mention the experienced group fielded by Whitefish.
“We're excited to see them next year and we're gonna look very similar, they’ll look a little bit different, so it'll be fun,” Clark said.
Whitefish ended up 13-2-0, and Columbia Falls was 12-2-2.
Whitefish's Georgia Morell (4), Olivia Genovese (10), Delaney Smith (9), Isabelle Cooke (20) and Macie Schmidt (7) celebrate after Smith's goal in the second half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Whitefish players celebrate after their 3-1 victory over Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 28. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Delaney Smith (9) scores a goal in the second half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Whitefish celebrates after a goal in the first half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Columbia Falls Josie Harris (12) passes into the box defended by Whitefish's Charlotte Perkins (23) in the first half of the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Isabelle Cooke (20) heads a ball on goal off a corner kick in the second half against Columbia Falls in the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Whitefish goalkeeper Norah Schmidt (1) makes a save in the first half of the Class A state championship against Columbia Falls at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Columbia Falls goalkeeper Erica Burguiere (1) makes a save against Whitefish's Delaney Smith (9) in the second half of the Class A state championship at Smith Fields on Saturday, Oct. 26. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider