The Columbia Falls boys soccer team went 0-2 on the road, but gained some valuable insight as to what they can expect come the postseason from the East.

The Wildcats lost to Livingston Friday 3-1, and then to Billings Central 1-0 in a defensive battle.

Brady Bell scored the Wildcats lone goal against Park County High at the 40-minute mark on an assist by Nolan Kavanagh to tie it at the end of the first half.

It was a defensive battle late into the game, until the Rangers scored at the 72-minute mark and added an insurance goal two minutes later.

Park outshot the Cats 14-9 in a physical game that had 24 fouls total. Livingston racked up three yellow cards and the Cats one. Keeper Talon Bates had 11 saves.

Against Central Bates had a stellar game, turning away 14 shots by the Rams and allowing just one goal at the 10-minute mark. The Cats had a tough time getting the offense going and had just two shots to Central’s 18.

Another physical game, Central had 10 fouls while the Cats had 11.

Coach O’Brien Byrd said they didn’t play well against Livingston and had a team meeting afterward to get everyone on the same page, then came out and played a much better game against Central.

“We played the best team in the state and held our ground and played our brand of soccer,” he said.

He noted Bates had an excellent performance.

The boys head into the conference schedule this week with a home game against Browning Tuesday (after presstime)  and a bigger matchup against Bigfork Thursday. The Browning game starts at 4 p.m. while the Bigfork game is under the lights at 7 p.m.

While Bigfork hasn’t won yet this season, they are expected to be a tough out as they’ve played everyone competitively and it’s important to get a conference win at home.