Full Count: (Flip Darling) Field of Dreams beckons again
SENIOR FORWARD Skyleigh Thompson pushes the ball during the Montana Grizzlies’ exhibition with Gonzaga Sunday at Flip Darling Memorial Field in Columbia Falls. (Avery Howe/Bigfork Eagle)
GONZAGA KEEPER Norah Schmidt leaps high for a save during Sunday’s exhibition with the Montana Grizzlies at Flip Darling Memorial Field. (Avery Howe/Bigfork Eagle)
PAISLEY SHELDON of Kalispell gets a hug from Ava Samuelson after getting the senior defender’s autograph Sunday night. (Avery Howe/Bigfork Eagle)
The idea to have a Division I women’s soccer exhibition in Columbia Falls had been on O’Brien Byrd’s mind for some time, and when it finally happened — the Montana Grizzlies and Gonzaga Bulldogs met on Flip Darling Memorial Field last Aug. 11 — Byrd felt a mixture of elation and exhaustion.
“Then the Grizzlies’ coach grabbed me and said, ‘We’re in for next year,’ ” Byrd remembered. “I hadn’t even thought about it.”
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