• Braves knock off Rock Springs 2-1 in season finale
The Star Valley High School soccer programs will try to extend their seasons this Wednesday as they will both be endeavoring to earn their way into the 4A West Regionals this Wednesday. The Braves as the #7 seed will face #8 Evanston with the winner advancing to the bracket on Thursday against Kelly Walsh. The Wednesday play-in is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Jackson which is the site of this year’s 4A West Regionals.
Prior to that match will be the girls play-in which will feature the #7 Evanston Lady Red Devils and the #8 Lady Braves with a 2 p.m. start time. The winner of the match will advance to the regional bracket where they will also face Kelly Walsh with a start time of 4 p.m.
• Vs Rock Springs
Both teams hosted the Tigers this past Saturday with the Lady Braves falling in 4-1 final and the Braves collecting a 2-1 victory.
In the girls match, the two teams played a scoreless outing for nearly 30 minutes before the visitors got the first of what would be three goals from Tahlia Knudsen. Star Valley answered directly out of the half on a free kick outside the box which was redirected into the net by Rhian Larson who has scored both goals for the Lady Braves this season. This tied the score 1-1 and remained that way until the 53rd minute when Knudsen gave the lead back to Rock Springs. She collected the hat trick in the 63rd and Lillian Bridewell tacked on the final tally in the 77th for the final.
Senior Cara Andrews was terrific in goal as she turned away 18 shots. The Tigers finished the match with 32 shots on goal. Star Valley finished with five.
As for the boys match, the Tigers grabbed the lead early but it proved to be the only goal of the afternoon for the visitors. Mark Hamilton gave Rock Springs their lone goal in the 6th minute but the Star Valley defense kept the slate clean for the remaining 74 minutes.
Trailing by the 1-0 score, Star Valley grabbed momentum in the final moments of the first half with a goal from sophomore Jacob Howe who was assisted by Max Matijczyk to knot the contest.
Star Valley’s pressure in the second half was evident as they finished with 22 shots on goal compared to just seven for the Tigers. Despite the pressure, the Braves were turned away by Jared Parra who finished with ten saves for Rock Springs. The game-winner was a redirected own-goal by the Tigers credited to Kade Rich who took the shot in the 50th minute.
The win helped the Braves improve to 3-9-2 for the regular season.
Both Star Valley programs are trying to make it back to the 4A State tournament. The Lady Braves have not made the culminating event since 2019. The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. The Braves’ last trip was in 2023 when they advanced to the consolation finals.
