Kats tie Valkyries on the road

The Columbia Falls Wildcat girls soccer team faced off against the Bigfork Valkyries in a tough match-up on Saturday in Bigfork in a contest that would see the two end in tie of 1-1.

“We knew going into the match that they are a very physical team that can cause problems with counter attacks and create opportunities from pressing.  That can definitely be difficult to deal with on a smaller pitch, but I think the girls handled the pressure well,” coach Thomas Clark said.

Bella Mann’s (Riley Byrd assist) shot would land the Cats on the board at the 24th minute mark, but Bigfork would come out in the second half to even the score at the 46th minute mark.  Keeper Elaina Dorr had three saves and the Cats had 9 shots compared to one for Bigfork on the afternoon.  Columbia Falls came away with only four fouls while Bigfork racked up 17.

“We were able to keep the ball and created a lot of chances.  I thought defensively we did a really good job of handling their threats up top and offensively created enough chances to win.  We just have to be better as a group at finishing.  Chance creation can really be an indicator of how you are executing on the field and the girls did a great job.  We will work on finishing those chances all week and into the future,” Clark said.

Heading into this week’s games, the Cats are currently 4-0-1 and at the top of their conference.  

“We’ve played against three playoff teams in our first five games and are undefeated, so we are really excited about where we are.  As we head into these next few games, we just want to continue to build on that momentum and continue to improve week to week,” Clark said.

The Cats will be on the road this week with a game on Thursday against Browning followed by a game on Saturday in Libby.