The Star Valley High School soccer season came to an early end this past weekend as both the Lady Braves and Braves competed at the 4A West Regionals in Jackson.
Both squads had to qualify for the main regional bracket by winning a play-in game which was between the #7 and #8 ranked teams in the conference. Very windy conditions battered the Lady Braves in the first half as 30-40 mph winds were in their face as well as the Evanston Lady Devils. This only added to the challenge and the Devils capitalized on the advantage by scoring early and often including the first goal in the 5th minute by Julia Barton. Haven Hill scored the next three goals to collect the hat trick before a free kick curved into the net from 25 yards out to make the score 5-0 at half. The final tally remained unchanged as the Lady Braves completed a second straight winless season. Their last win came midway through the 2024 campaign.
The Braves had the advantage of the wind in the boys match and took a 1-0 lead off a laser shot from Chase Tyler in the 10th. The Devils were stingy and did not allow another goal until late in the half when Jacob Howe found the back of the net to make it 2-0 in the 37th minute. This goal provided a little breathing room for Star Valley who faced even more blusty conditions in the second half. The Devils wasted no time in cutting the lead in half as the ball was knocked out of the hands of the keeper and put in the net in the 44th minute. The next 11 minutes were full of close calls for Star Valley as the wind did its best to aid the Devils in finding the equalizer. The final goal of the match came in the 55th as Jacob Choma assisted Howe who put the Braves up 3-1 which ultimately was the final score.
The win advanced the Braves into the regional bracket the next day where less than 24 hours later they faced off against #2 Kelly Walsh. The Trojans shut out the Braves 5-0 to end their season.
The qualifying teams from the 4A West Girls included Kelly Walsh, who defeated Jackson 1-0 in the championship as well as Green River who defeated Riverton for third place, 4-0. In the boys bracket, Jackson defeated Kelly Walsh 1-0 in the championship and Green River defeated Riverton 5-1 for third place.
The Thunder Basin girls and the Sheridan boys were the 4A East champs. State soccer takes place this weekend in Gillette.
• Missing State Again
The graduating seniors have really not been able to enjoy the soccer culminating event as the boys have not qualified for the State tournament for the third straight season and the girls have missed out on the final weekend since 2019. The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. The Braves advanced to the consolation finals in 2023 in their last trip to State. The girls last win was during the 2018 season in the 3A classification as they advanced to the consolation finals against Buffalo.
• 20 Seasons of SVHS Soccer
Subtracting the lost COVID-19 season, Star Valley High School has now completed 20 seasons of sanctioned soccer. In that time, the girls program has qualified for State nine times with their highest finish being runner-up in both 2013 and 2015. Other trophy seasons included third place in 2014 and consolation trophies in 2016 and 2017. The boys program has qualified 12 times with their highest finish also being runner-up in 2013 and 2018. The program finished third in 2019 (their highest in the 4A classification) and had consolation trophies in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
