The Star Valley Braves soccer team went 1-1 on their opening weekend in a pair of games played in Rock Springs against Evanston and Laramie. This Thursday evening at 5 p.m., they will be looking to replicate a victory over the Red Devils but this time in conference play in a match at Braves Field.
Join Corbin Tolman on the call for the match.
• Boys Soccer routs Red Devils
By Dahl Erickson
SVI Media
The opening weekend of soccer season took place this past weekend as the Star Valley Braves traveled to Rock Springs.
The original schedule was scrapped however, with road conditions on I-80 causing some closures in and out of town.
The teams adapted and in the case of Star Valley, they took on Evanston on Saturday and came away with a one-sided 6-0 victory. Jesus Allred and Kristoff Buehler each scored twice while Bailey Kallgren and Brandon Flores also notched a goal as well.
“It starts off a little disappointing with the cancellation on Friday,” said head coach Trevor Spencer. “The guys were all excited but they bounced back with a game against Evanston. It evidently was Evanston’s prom so we’ll see a different team on Thursday. But on Saturday we played really well and possessed the ball really well and put six goals in and kept them from scoring. There were some really good things that happened. There are obviously things we can work on but its good to get that win.”
The next game came quickly as the Braves went up against perennial powerhouse Laramie but battled the Plainsmen in a 2-1 loss.
“Laramie is always a tough team to play,” Spencer added. “They do really well every year so we knew that was going to be a stiff test for us.”
The Braves were dinged early on for some physical play but Killian Rainey stopped the penalty kick. The Plainsmen did recover shortly thereafter and found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. As the second game of the day, the staff asked the team to dig a little deeper.
“I challenged the boys because we were tired,” Spencer replied. “I said we need to find some energy and heart and I felt like we really did. Kaden Roberts scored a goal in the next half and I’m excited to see where he goes from here to even things up. Toward the end of the game, Laramie put in a shot that was a beautiful attempt to go up 2-1. But I felt like we played them really well.”
The varsity match between the Braves and the Red Devils is scheduled for 5 p.m. SVI Media encourages fans to come out and cheer on the squads as they open up the home schedule.
The program will play on Friday on the road as they travel to face the Rock Springs Tigers.
