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The Clark Fork Valley Soccer Alliance U13 soccer team finished the regular season on top with a 5-0 triumph over the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks at Amundson Sports Complex last Tuesday.

It also ended with a Plains member collecting a "hat-trick," scoring three goals in one game. Ten-year-old Katherine Wrobleski picked up the second hat-trick of the season for the team, bringing her total goals for the season to seven. Ava Lawyer, 11, was the top scorer with 14, which also included a hat-trick earlier in the season.

The Clark Fork Valley Soccer Alliance U13 finished the season with six wins, six ties and three losses, taking them to fourth place out of the 26 teams of the Montana Youth Soccer Association. The U13 Blue Hawks, coached by Carole Jensen and her son Zachary Jensen, finished the season in fifth place with five wins, nine losses and one tie. Polson took first place this season, followed by Bigfork and FC Missoula.

On Tuesday, it looked to be a scoreless first half. But with a mere three minutes to go, Wrobleski fed the ball over the left wing to Lawyer who put one in past Blue Hawks keeper 10-year-old Grayson Stevens, a Trout Creek resident, for the first point of the game. Just over two minutes into the second half found Wrobleski kicking in her first goal of the game by keeper Jacob Howell, 12. Both Blue Hawk keepers had several saves before Plains scored. Wrobleski soon did it again, and then picked up her third goal five minutes later to give Clark Fork Soccer Alliance a 4-0 lead. With three minutes left in the game, Lawyer came through with her second goal to finish the game.

Clark Fork Valley Soccer Alliance had 15 players for the game, but Thompson Falls had only nine boys and two girls, no substitutes and were a bit tired from their recent tournament play in Kalispell, said Carole Jensen. This was her first time to have a spring team and her girls are first time soccer players. Lawyer has six boys and nine girls, including three players from St. Regis. His keepers on Tuesday were Tristan Allen and Arrow Hyde, the team captain.

"I was thrilled with our performance in this final league game of the season," said Coach Lawyer, who added that Thompson Falls tied his team twice in other games this season. "Our play was great, and the kids have really learned to execute our tactical principles of playing with the ball on the ground, building from the back, and using triangles to beat the opponent," said Lawyer, a soccer coach for 12 years.

"My kids give it everything that they have," said Jensen, who said they worked like a team and played with "heart and passion and have great sportsmanship." Jensen has also coached U8 and U10 and hopes to have her U13 players back in the fall.

Lawyer noted that he has a talented team and his players have improved throughout the season. "Every single one of them has gotten better and I'm proud of them for all their hard work and determination. For many of them this was their first taste of competitive soccer," he said. Twelve of the 15 players scored sometime during the season.

This was the first year for organized sports for "Rookie of the Year" JD Warta, according to Lawyer, but he said the boy quickly picked up the game. "He has a motor that never stops and he's the type of kid that will try to defend every blade of grass, and he's got the energy to do it," the coach said. He also pointed out Maddie Carter's contribution to the team, calling her an "absolute rock in central defense, that's why she's called our Secretary of Defense. She's very calm and committed to denying access to our goal, she's great on the ball, and has excellent distribution of the ball out of the backfield," said Lawyer.