Despite having a rough start at the beginning of the season, the Green River High School Boys Soccer Team continues making strides week by week.
The team’s first two outings ended in defeat to Cheyenne East and Cheyenne Central, as well as a number of injuries to players. Nearly a month later, a second-place finish at the Pinnacle Challengers Cup over the weekend, as well as a 2-1 win against Natrona County Tuesday, has given the team a lot more confidence since the season’s start.
For head coach Chris Bieber, his goal for the team continues to be work on the fundamentals of the game and having the young squad peak at the right time near the end of the season. Peaking, when a team is competing at its highest level, is important to have at the end of a season, as opposed to its start. Beiber said teams that end up peaking too early often end up struggling later in the season to teams they previously defeated. As far as the team peaking at the right time, Bieber believes the team is on track to improve and be more competitive when the Regional and State tournaments take place May 11-13 and May 18-20 respectively. For now, Beiber sees a number of areas he wants players to improve believing the little things will add up to great plays.
“We have things to work on, things to get better at,” Beiber said.
Two of the skills he wants the team to improve are winning balls in the air and what the players do with their first touch. In soccer, first touch is one of the most important fundamentals and involves the initial contact between a player’s foot and the ball. It dictates what a player can do with the ball. Kicking it too hard could result in losing possession, while not kicking it hard enough could result in the player quickly slowing down to maintain control and give an opponent a chance to steal.
The team has three senior players, Kalen Kester, Jacob Lock and Cody Lee, with a majority of its numbers made up by sophomores and juniors.
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