The Kelly Walsh girls soccer team looks ready to defend its state championship.
The Trojans (10-3-2, 10-2-0 West Class 4A) shut out Rock Springs 4-0 on Saturday at the Tom Stafileno Activities Complex for the conference regular season title. obtained.
“We really wanted to be conference champions,” admitted KW head coach Jerry Riering. “We were disappointed at times during the season losing to some good teams, but we always felt we had something more.
“Today was just a phenomenal game for us. We moved the ball really well and attacked really hard. And I believed in our defense today with Sydney (van Houten) and Abigail (Miller) up the middle. I think he was incredibly calm.”
The Trojans broke the scoreless tie in the 18th minute when sophomore Maren Hayward weaved through three defenders and threaded a cross pass to the feet of Aspen Shelk. The senior pushed the ball to his right, then gathered up and fired a shot past Rock Springs goalie Carly Nandrup.
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Just five minutes later, Shelk converted a corner kick from senior Addisen Kobza to make it 2-0.
“She’s amazing,” Shelk said of Kobza. “She's an inspiration to all of us because she knows where to put the ball and how we get to it.”
Mr. Riering echoed Mr. Shelk's sentiments regarding Kobza.
“She has great ball on set pieces,” he said. “And we knew we had the right people there to attack it.”
Kelly Walsh seemed content to take a 2-0 advantage into halftime, but the Trojans earned one more corner kick as time wound down. Kobza quickly put the ball down, waited for the referee's signal, and launched the ball into the center of the net. Senior Peyton Hill headed a perfectly placed corner kick past Nandrup with just 10 seconds left.
“It was my assistant coach who told me to look at the clock,” Riering said. “Kobza put in a great ball and Payton attacked it. So not only was it an assist to Kobza, but it was an assist to some great assistant coaches.”
Sophomore Sydney Stephan scored the only goal of the second half in the 74th minute with a nice individual run, dribbling past three defenders and beating Nandrup with a low liner into the back of the net.
The goal capped off a dominant second half for the Trojans. The Trojans outscored the Tigers 12-0 and had a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal.
“It's not always what you do that matters, but how you do it,” Riering said. “And I think we played the right football and won the conference championship. We would have been happy with a 1-0 win, but as a coach I couldn't be more proud of the way they played today.”
As Realing noted, KW was solid at every step of the lineup. Whether it's the senior starters or the young reserves, the Trojans were firing on all cylinders Saturday as they finished undefeated at home. KW defeated the team 28-4, with junior keeper Addie Harris recording four shutouts on her home field.
“I like that we can put an image of ourselves on (underclassmen) and they can grow from there,” Shirk said. “We are very close with the younger girls and we keep each other motivated, and the tangerine ice cream really keeps us going.”
The Trojans have seen impressive play from their young players all season, and will look to continue that trend at next weekend's regional tournament. The conference champion will advance to the semifinals with a bye and will face the winner of Friday's game between Rock Springs and Natrona County.
“All the kids that took the field performed well,” Riering said. “They played for each other today. It was really good football, so as a coach, you can calm down and relax. Playing football like that is a good way to get into the postseason.”
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