Clark Fork Soccer Alliance kicks off spring season
Thompson Falls student Candace Manuel watches the ball during a girls U-19 game last year. (Photo by Erika Lawyer)
By shear numbers alone, soccer is on a par with any other sport in this area.
And teams in the Clark Fork Soccer Alliance have registered unparalleled success in terms of wins over the past few decades.
Clearly, the sport has a solid foothold throughout the nation and Western Montana is no exception.
The CFSA teams kick off their 2023 season this Saturday with three games, including a home game for the Plains-based U15 boys who will take part in a four team event beginning at 10 a.m. when the Clark Fork U15 boys take on the Missoula Strikers at Amundson Sports Complex near the Plains airport.
That first game will be followed by a 1 p.m. match featuring the Strikers and Flathead United, a Kalispell area team. The day’s action concludes with a 4 p.m. contest between Flathead and Clark Fork.
Also this Saturday, the U18 boys team and the U17 girls squad will play road games in Stevensville and Bozemn, while the U12 boys and girls wait a week to begin their season, with games in Plains April 8.
“Clark Fork Soccer Alliance, located in Sanders and Mineral Counties, will have seven teams playing competitive soccer this Spring,” said league representative Nicholas Lawyer, a Plains area physician’s assistant. “Despite the decision by Plains High School (to not add soccer as a school sport) Clark Fork Soccer is not going to change our successful formula that focuses on positive, enjoyable training and player development”.
Lawyer said the local club is at least 28 years old, although no one apparently really knows the exact number of years the organization has existed. The league and teams provide soccer opportunities to players in Superior, St. Regis, Paradise, Hot Springs, Plains, Thompson Falls and Trout Creek, he said.
Plains supplies the most players to the organization, with 49 kids taking part, while Thompson Falls has 36 players. St. Regis has seven players involved while Trout Creek and Paradise each have four.
The alliance’s teams have enjoyed a successful existence over the years, including last Fall when the boys U19 team finished undefeated (playing Montana High School Association JV teams) and picked up wins over Missoula Hellgate, Columbia Falls and Whitefish during the season.
The girls U17 team also had a great year, losing only one match last Fall playing against opponents similar to that of the U19 boys. The girls also won the western Montana Classic for the third time in four years this past Fall.
The alliance has also produced some notable individual stars, including Claire and Katherine Wrobleski who earned their way onto the Missoula Strikers Premier team along with a chance to represent Montana at the US Youth Regionals Tournament this June.
Thompson Falls senior Jacob Britt has committed to Carroll College in Helena, while fellow T Falls student Chess Ramers is reportedly considering an offer to play soccer at MSU-Billings.
The original schedule has each of the local teams listed for eight weekend contests running through May 20. Parents, players and supporters of the organization have been busily sprucing up the Amundson fields ahead of this weekend’s matches, which are free to the public.