By Paul Peters Whitefish Pilot

The Bulldogs suffered a set back

The Bulldogs suffered a set back in their playoff plans Tuesday night when both the boys and girls soccer teams lost to Columbia falls in division finals.

The girls came the closest, losing just 1 - 0 to the 'Kats.

"We did possess well, but we gave up a beautiful goal off the corner early in the game," coach Lini Reading said.

"We had some chances, but we just couldn't pull the trigger," Reading said.

"It was a disappointing loss, but the girls were happy with their improvements. Improvement feeds the drive to continue."

"I've got to give Columbia Falls credit," Reading added. "They are a good attacking team, they will go to the goal and they will shoot."

The loss bumps the girls into the number two slot. They will travel to Corvallis on Saturday, 1:30 p.m., to play their first playoff round.

The boys suffered a more convincing 4 - 0 loss to Columbia Falls.

"I don't think the guys showed up," Byrd said. "The intensity, the drive to win wasn't there."

Byrd also noted that three of his players, Matt Gwiazdon, Koben Williams and Ian Driscoll were out of the game with injuries.

Despite the loss, Byrd remained competitive.

"Hopefully we'll see Columbia Falls again in the finals," he said.

The boys, like the girls, are now in the number two seed position for finals, and will play the southern conference's number one team, Hamilton, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., in Hamilton.

In their only game against Hamilton this year the 'dogs suffered a loss, however, Byrd said the team was riddled with injuries at the time.

"We were a completely different team then," he said.

In contrast to Tuesday night, Byrd said the dogs had an "awesome" game against Libby on Saturday, where they pulled off a 5 - 0 shutout.

"We had great all-around team play with wonderful, unselfish passing," Byrd said. "It was an excellent shutout by Hobbs. He's really improved this year in terms of toughness."

Both Colin Moll and freshman Shane Widdifield scored twice against Libby, with Chase Giacomo picking up the odd goal.

The Whitefish girls also posted a shut out over Libby, beating them 6-0.

"The girls really played well," Reading said. "There was never a time when it was stressful on the sidelines."

"Usually we never come away happy from Libby. This was big for us in that."

"All in all it was a pretty good day in Libby."

Kari Hendrick and Jen Joern scored two goals a piece, with Erin Fennelly and Carmel Johnston piling it on with one more each.

Fennelly racked up three assists.

Alissa LaChance and Allie Connelly also made one assist each.

Whitefish led 2-0 at half, and locked the game up with four more goals in the second.