Reeve, Kizer, Thompson lead Wildkats past Vals, 3-0

Senior McKenzie Reeve scored two goals and sophomore McKenzie Kizer had another, leading Columbia Falls to a 3-0 non-conference victory over Bigfork in the soccer season opener Saturday at the Carlyle Johnson County Park complex in Bigfork. Sophomore goalkeeper Niesha Thompson had the shutout.

C-Falls continues non-league play by hosting Park (Livingston) on Friday and Belgrade on Saturday. Game times are 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday.

"For our first match we played pretty well," C-Falls head coach Greg Trenerry. "It's good to get a win."

Just less than 10 minutes into the match, Reeve controlled a loose ball in front of the Bigfork goal and booted it in for a 1-0 Wildkat lead. Two minutes later, Bigfork sophomore Miranda Miller went down with a leg injury. That interrupted play for about 40 minutes. Miller later had surgery and will be lost for the season.

The Wildkats scored twice within a two-minute span in the second half. Reeve found the net again, scoring unassisted 27 minutes into the half. Then Kizer scored, with Reeve getting the assist.

"We passed pretty well," Trenerry said. "We used our flanks, our wings, a lot better. We had a lot more crosses."

The coach said the Wildkats did a good job of winning balls and distributing in the passing game.

Senior Ashli Fairbank, the team's sweeper, also played very well.

"She did a good job of organizing," Trenerry said, and Fairbank and junior stopper Elena Potter distributed the ball well.

Trenerry said Thompson had a 'stellar game" in goal for the Wildkats, preventing a number of potential Valkyrie shots. Thompson had several saves in the final minutes to preserve the shutout; she finished with eight saves.

C-Falls nearly doubled the Vals in shots on goal, 19-10.

Bigfork freshman Danielle Keeler had 11 saves.

"They're a good team, they played us hard," Trenerry said of Bigfork, coached again this season by his daughter, Hauna Trenerry. "They had some injuries. They don't have a lot of subs."

The Wildkats had 12 corner kicks to Bigfork's two, but did not score on any of the opportunities.

"We could finish a little better," Greg Trenerry said. "I'd like to see a couple of goals out of that."

In preparation for the matches against Park and Belgrade, the Wildkats are working on corner kicks, crossing passes and getting three people in the penalty box on attacks.

"We're still working on distributing (the ball) a little more, changing the attack," Trenerry said.