WHITEFISH — Both the Whitefish boys and girls soccer programs hosted their rivals on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023 — as the Columbia Falls Wildcats to close out their respective regular season.
It was the boy's teams who kicked off first for the second time this year after Whitefish won their first meeting 4-3 in Columbia Falls.
In this one Whitefish almost opened the scoring with a shot from 25 yards out that rocketed off the left post halfway through the first half.
That was the closest either team came to scoring in the first half as the first 40 minutes ended with neither side able to find the back of the net.
That all changed four minutes into the second half when Preston McPherson poked one in from just inside the 6-yard box off of a corner kick that put the Bulldogs on top 1-0 to start the second half.
Only three minutes later Kyler Jonson hit an absolute banger of a free kick from just outside the 18 to extend Whitefish’s lead and make it 2-0.
Columbia Falls got on the board with 20 minutes to play to make things interesting thanks to a strong finish from River Wolford.
But Whitefish silenced any hope of a comeback after Sam Dow scored the Bulldogs third goal of the half with seven minutes to play to secure a 3-1 win for Whitefish.
The Bulldogs finished their regular season with an undefeated record while Columbia Falls suffered only their second loss of the season, both to Whitefish.
Next, it was the girl's teams in their second meeting of the season as well after Whitefish won the first match in Columbia Falls 4-2.
The Bulldogs nearly found the back of the net a free kick here that went through the keeper's hands and hit the back post 22 minutes into the game.
Then it was Columbia Falls who started piling on the pressure with four shots on frame in several consecutive strong offensive pushes.
But was Whitefish who struck first with a shot from Isabelle Cooke just outside the 18 to put them up 1-0 heading into halftime.
In the second half, Columbia Falls came alive as Hope McAtee converted a penalty kick to tie things up 1-1.
Then the Wildcats found the back of the net again and went on to win 2-1 to improve to 9-2-2 on the season and secure a playoff berth while Whitefish who has already secured a playoff berth fell to 9-2.
Playoffs for Class A soccer begin on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.
