Kats open season 1-0-1

The Columbia Falls High School girls soccer team started out its season 1-0-1 as it faced two eastern foes at home last week.

On Sept. 6, the girls settled for a tie against the Park County Rangers from Livingston. Columbia Falls looked flat in the first half, and Livingston took the lead when Chelsea Woods dropped in a shot at the 29 minute mark.

Wildkat forward Haley Purdy tied the game at the 64-minute mark on an assist from Lindsay Strouse. But the girls simply sputtered through the game. They didn’t run to the ball and seemed out of sorts.

“We couldn’t quite finish, and we weren’t using our wings,” coach Greg Trenerry said.

The Kats righted their ship against Belgrade the next day. Down 1-0 after the first half, after Belgrade scored on a penalty kick, the girls stormed back with three goals of their own.

Ellie Johnson knocked in a right side goal on a sweet volley to make it 1-1. Alexi Corbett had the assist on a sweet across-goal feed. Then Purdy hit a penalty kick, to make it 2-1. A few minutes later, Tavia Bechtel knocked a high floater from 30 yards out to make it 3-1.

“We made some adjustments and played well,” Trenerry said. “They came back and battled. Belgrade’s a good team.”

The girls are on the road this week, as they travel to Laurel on Friday and Billings Central on Saturday.