Kats, Pirates settle for tie in soccer

COLUMBIA FALLS — The Columbia Falls girls soccer team applied heavy offensive pressure the final 10 minutes, but couldn’t solve Polson’s unshakable back line in a 0-0 draw Thursday at Flip Darling Field.

Polson freshman center backs Hannah Hobbs and Olivia Hewston played with composure beyond their years and the rest of the defense followed suit as the Lady Pirates fended off Columbia Falls’ late surge. Hobbs intercepted two through balls in the match’s waning minutes and pressure from Hewston forced Columbia Falls forward Ellie Johnson to fire a shot wide of the net on the Wildkats’ final attack.

“I wasn’t really thinking, I was kind of just doing,” Hobbs said. “We talked a lot, watched the through balls.”

Columbia Falls’ best chance to break the deadlock came in the 69th minute when Johnson and Hewston raced into the 18-yard box in pursuit of a through ball. The two players made contact and Johnson fell to the ground, but the referee signaled for play to continue instead of awarding the Wildkats a penalty kick.

“We focused a lot on the defense,” Polson coach Michael Hewston said. “We knew we had the two freshmen coming up, we knew that they had played together for the last four years, so they know each other, they know what they’re going to do before they do it. We knew if we could just hold those two together and then fill in the outsides we’d do pretty well.”

While it wasn’t tested as often, Columbia Falls’ defense was equally impressive. Center back Sydney Grilley saved a goal in the 27th minute when she blocked Tiara Duford’s shot near the end line and snuffed out another chance in the 59th minute when she dispossessed Duford inside the 18-yard box.

“Give a lot of credit to our defense,” Columbia Falls coach Greg Trenerry said.

Columbia Falls holding midfielder Tavia Bechtel won numerous challenges to help the Wildkats keep the pressure on in the second half, but Trenerry said his team lacked the finishing touch in the final third.

“We didn’t finish well today,” he said. “We’ve had problems finishing all year. We just had problems finishing on balls we should finish. Don’t kick them to the keeper, maybe take a few more touches, all those things.”

While neither team left the field a winner, the Polson players couldn’t hide their satisfaction, especially since Columbia Falls blasted Polson 10-0 when the two teams met last season at Flip Darling Field.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” Olivia Hewston said.

Added Coach Hewston: “We’ve never done anything but lose here, so I feel great about the result.”

Polson (4-3-1 overall, 2-1-1 Northern A) continues conference play on Tuesday at Whitefish. Columbia Falls (2-2-3, 1-1-1) plays at Bigfork on Tuesday.

Polson 0 0 — 0

Columbia Falls 0 0 — 0

Shots - Polson 4, Columbia Falls 14. Saves - Polson 8 (Jenna Evertz), Columbia Falls 2 (Andrea Getts). Corner kicks - Polson 1, Columbia Falls 2. Fouls - Polson 4, Columbia Falls 6.