Isa Vasco and Claira Kuball
By HANNAH ROMERO, Editor
Wrapping up their conference season, the Lady Wolves faced two tough games on the road, taking on but ultimately losing to Powell and Cody.
Last Friday, the Green River High School Girls Soccer team headed to Powell to play the Lady Panthers. While Green River had beaten Powell twice earlier in the season, they knew going up against them again would be challenging. And with Powell making adjustments and shifting some of their players around, they made defense a bit more difficult for Green River, according to Head Coach Matthew Robles.
The Lady Wolves got down early in the game, but fought to get back into the competition. Down 3-1 at the half, Green River managed to make another goal at the beginning of the second half to get to within one goal of the lead.
"We battled back and forth," Coach Robles explained. "We just could never really get our feet back in the game."
While the Lady Wolves managed to score a few more points, their defense struggled with staying organized and not giving up goals. Green River ultimately lost the game with a final score of 5-9.
Although the defense struggled, Coach Robles was proud of the offense for doing well with scoring. Once again, Isabel Vasco led the way for the team, scoring four out of their five goals. This allowed her to break the 100-goal mark for her career, leaving her with 102 so far. The other point in the game was scored by Brynlee Cordova.
"We find a lot of our goals and a lot of opportunities through Isa, but we are finding some other help for her," Robles noted.
The next day, the team found themselves in Cody to take on the Fillies, but the girls were lacking motivation.
"On Saturday we were very tired and it was hard for us because we really didn't have anything to play for," Coach Robles admitted. "We were locked into the four seed after our loss to Powell."
While beating Cody would have kept them from taking the number one seed for State, it was still hard for Green River to fight for the victory. The Lady Wolves didn't manage to score any goals in the game. However, they did improve defensively, Robles noted, and did better at limiting their opponent's opportunities. Green River ended up losing to Cody 0-4.
"We just got out-played and we were tired," Robles said.
He also pointed out that the trip to Powell and Cody has been tough on the team in previous years as well, and playing both teams on their Senior Nights when they were especially hyped was difficult.
The coach noted that the team doesn't like making excuses, but he could tell the girls were dragging, and he wondered if the weather was also a factor. After having played most of the season in 30 - 40 degree temperatures, they ended up playing with temperatures in the mid-60s in Powell and mid-70s in Cody.
"We've got to figure out how to not let the heat affect us as much as it did, whether it's conditioning or some hydration issues or whatever it was," Robles said. "We're supposed to be pretty warm this week at State, so we've got to make sure we're mentally and physically prepared for that."
Preparing for the weather is just one factor in the team's preparations for the State Tournament this weekend. While the tournament being hosted in Green River gives the team the advantage of not having to travel and being familiar with the fields they play on, they want to be focused on their competition.
"Being at home, we want to be playing in the championship rounds and get an opportunity to win some medals," Robles said. "So right now our focus is taking care of a game against a good Douglas team, and then we'll see how the rest of the tournament plays out for us."
The Douglas Bearcats will the Lady Wolves' first opponent in the tournament. If they win that game, they will move on to the semifinals and be guaranteed at least a fourth-place finish among the eight teams in the tournament. If they lose their first game against Douglas, the Lady Wolves will move into the consolation bracket.
"No team ever comes to State expecting to lose and we're no different," Coach Robles said. We expect to show up and to compete and play our best soccer this time of year and be in a medal round match. That's where we really want to be. I think we're good enough to be there."
Robles also hopes the girls on the team believe in themselves and their ability to win. While they are focusing on one game at a time, the coaching staff is excited to have made it to State, and Robles hopes it will be the beginning of creating a stronger soccer program. He noted that the Girls Soccer team hasn't been to State since 2017 and hasn't won a State game since a few years before that, and he's ready for that to change.
"We're very excited to show what we've built for this team and we're excited to see how well the girls do," Robles said.
The Lady Wolves will take on the Douglas Bearcats at 2 p.m. today at Lincoln Middle School, and they are hoping for a strong turnout from family and fans throughout the State tournament.
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