The SVHS soccer teams pushed through their final weekend before Spring Break by traveling to Rock Springs and Green River. Both teams lost both road contests as they not only worked on their skills and conditioning, but also the obstacles that come with the time of year as full rosters are rare.
The Lady Braves fell to Rock Springs 4-0 last Thursday.
“We still weren’t quite working as well as a team as we would like,” noted head coach Jessica Bagley. “We’re putting together more passing strings and scoring opportunities which we are excited about. I think we’re all just waiting to be a full unit. We’ve had a lot of people missing the first four games. So we have little bright moments and we are looking to bring things together more consistently.”
Bagley added that Ambrey Nelson and Hazel Ross had a nice scoring opportunity that just didn’t happen to find the back of the net against the Tigers.
The match against Green River last Saturday was a tough one as the team fell in a 15-0 final which will be remembered for Isabel Vasko’s ten goals in the contest.
“We were down probably ten varsity players so we had a lot of freshman girls on JV who helped us in that game,” Bagley added. “They showed a lot of promise. The score wasn’t great but they showed some potential and had a lot of effort.”
The Braves also came up on the short end of a pair of losses heading into the break but had some bright spots as well. The team lost in a 2-1 battle with the Tigers to start the week.
“I’ve developed a good relationship with the Rock Springs’ staff so I know they are going to be well coached and we tend to have good games,” stated head coach Trevor Spencer. “The boys really played well and for much of the second half we had the wind at our back and we just couldn’t find the equalizing goal.”
Senior Max Matijczyk scored the goal for the Braves.
“He does a fantastic job,” Spencer said of Matijczyk. “The result wasn’t what we wanted but it was a competitive match.”
The match against the Wolves was another flurry of adjustments as the roster was in flux in a 9-4 offensive explosion.
“We had a lot of people pulled away with the break but no excuses,” Spencer said. “We stepped up and played really well. I felt like we did really well in the first half. In the second half we had a stretch where we seemed to forget how to play for a bit and they scored a few goals right in a row.”
Spencer also feels like the team got their feet back under them after the flurry of Green River scores.
“I felt like we did a good job,” he continued. “We’re disappointed in the outcome and you want those points toward the regional standings. But we’re continuing to grow and hopefully we are progressing in the right direction. I’m grateful for their effort before the break.”
Matijczyk scored twice against the Wolves. The Braves also got goals from Chase Tyler on a penalty kick and another from Jacob Howe.
