2021 Sports in Review – A year of Dogie accomplishments

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
Despite 2021 being a crazy, challenging year full of relative unknowns, the Dogies managed to have some pretty special moments throughout the year. The Lady Dogies in particular enjoyed success in several different sports including basketball, soccer and volleyball. 
Let’s take a look back at how each of those seasons came to an end.
 
Basketball players fall 
short of hardware
The Lady Dogies made their second consecutive trip to the 3A State Tournament last season. While they came up just short of bringing home any hardware, the young team advanced to the Consolation Championship game and gave all three teams they took on a run for their money.
“I think there were some nerves at work when we started our first game on Wednesday,” said head coach Chad Ostenson at the time. “And it just wasn’t our day in our last game on Thursday, but I am very proud of how the girls battled in every game and we got some very valuable experience which I hope will help us next season.”
The Lady Dogies got off to a slow start in their first game of the tournament against the west  side’s second-seeded Lady Tigers of Lander. Though the squad created plenty of scoring opportunities, they struggled to find the bottom of the net.
The Lady Dogies got their first 2 points from one trip to the charity stripe deep into the first quarter, however finished the first frame down only 6-11 against the Lady Tigers. Lander continued to build their lead outscoring Newcastle 13-9 in the second quarter to take a 9-point advantage into the locker room. 
The second half was a different story however, and the Lady Dogies took the momentum early in the third quarter, finally getting into an offensive groove, and cut the Tiger lead to only 2 by the beginning of the fourth. Unfortunately, Lander was able to hold off the second half run by the Dogies to take the 40-36 win dropping Newcastle into the consolation bracket.
“They hit a couple of fairly key shots down the stretch which helped them and hurt us,” Ostenson reported. “We played pretty good basketball really, but couldn’t finish.”
Thursday morning found the Lady Dogies back on the court faced with getting past Mountain View in order to give themselves a shot at the Consolation Champion title. 
“We played one of our most solid games of the year against Mt. View,” Ostenson said. “We held their big to only 2 points, we took care of the ball, shared it well, went inside out, rebounded well and played great defense.”
From the start, the Lady Dogies controlled the contest outscoring Mt. View 15-12, 8-4, and 14-7 in the first three quarters of play. The Buffs made a little run in the fourth frame, however Newcastle held them off to take the 48-38 win and thus advanced to the fifth-place game.
“I was glad they came to play and got a win down there so they could see what they are capable of doing,” Ostenson said. “Everyone just played really well and it was an overall nice team win.”
The Lady Dogies met a familiar opponent in the Consolation Championship as the Wheatland Lady Bulldogs soundly defeated Torrington to earn their shot at the fifth-place trophy. The two teams battled twice during the regular season, and then again for third place at the regional tournament. The Lady Dogies had emerged victorious in all three contests, so Wheatland was coming in with a chip on their shoulder and much to prove.
To start their fourth and final match-up, the Lady Dogies came out swinging as Mercedes Voelker drained two back-to-back threes to start the game and gave Newcastle a quick 6-0 advantage. 
However, things cooled off from beyond the arc, and the Lady Bulldogs rallied to close out the quarter with an 8-8 tie. The Lady Dogies pulled ahead slightly to take a 3-point lead into the locker room, and then went point-for-point with Wheatland in another 8-8 quarter in the third. 
“We played solid basketball, but coming down the stretch they hit some really big outside, contested shots to take the game to overtime,” Ostenson explained. “The one [Kayla] Otero banked was NBA range with Shelby [Tidyman] in her face. When that happens, it’s probably not going to be good for you.”
With the score tied at 37 at the end of regulation, the two squads found themselves once again in an overtime situation. The teams exchanged blows in the final four minutes, however both Otero and Jaylen Ostenson fouled out (in that order) during the extended frame so the Bulldogs and the Dogies had to determine the winner without their most productive player. 
Wheatland ended the contest on top 46-41, denying the Lady Dogies the hardware they were so hoping to bring home. 
 
Soccer players 
Consolation Champs
It was an historical season for the Lady Dogie Soccer team as they finished with only two losses, two ties and 10 wins with 10 contests ending in shutouts for the squad. Head coach Cami Willyard in her first year at the helm, challenged her team to “hold the rope” throughout the year, and the girls did just that. 
“I read the girls a story early in the year about being a good teammate and holding the rope for each other if they were ‘dangling from a cliff’, no matter what,” Willyard began. “So that became our theme for the year.”
The squad not only held the rope, but climbed it as well to battle back from a disappointing first round loss against Mt. View at the state tournament in Cheyenne which knocked them out of contention for a state title, to defeat both Riverton and Buffalo to take home the first hardware for the Lady Dogie soccer program since Willyard herself was a senior in 2008. 
“The weekend ended very well, and we came out happy,” Willyard said. “We brought hardware home though it wasn’t the hardware we wanted, but it was still pretty awesome!”
Willyard and her crew went into the tournament fully aware that they would be up against it taking on a talented docket of west side teams, and though they held the first seed from the east, their quarterfinal match-up against the No. 4 seeded Mt. View Wranglers was going to be a challenge.
The Lady Dogies began the contest with the wind playing to their advantage and dominated offensively for the first half of play. At 30 minutes in, MacKenzie Conzelman earned a corner kick and Gabby McVay stepped out to take it on the backside. She entered the ball to Sammi Simmons who finished on the backside to put her team up 1-0, and also to pick up her first goal of the year. 
After dominating for 39 and a half minutes, the Lady Dogies gave up a through ball and with 20 seconds to go in the half, and Mt. View took advantage of it to score on a one-on-one against goalkeeper Angel Perez which took the two teams into the break tied at 1-1.
The Lady Dogies held strong for the next 40 minutes to end regulation, still sitting at 1-1. In the two 10-minute overtimes, both teams battled defensively which resulted in a shootout to decide the winner. In this scenario, each team alternates attempting five PK’s which meant that both goalkeepers were put in a position that no one would envy. 
Alaina Laurence stepped up as the first to shoot and her ball got past the keeper to put Newcastle up 2-1. Mt. View answered in kind to tie the game again, then Conzelman was up and missed wide left. The Wranglers made their second attempt to take the 1-point lead, after which McVay shot just a tad high and hit the crossbar. The third Lady Wrangler also found the back of the net which ended the contest with a 4-2 Newcastle loss that signaled the end of the state title run for the squad.
“It was heartbreaking,” Willyard said. “We had worked on PKs all week, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”
On Friday, the team had to bounce back and battle the Riverton Lady Wolverines for a chance to take home the consolation championship. Conditions were sketchy as the morning dawned foggy and rainy, however, the Lady Dogies dominated in the loser out contest to take the 1-0 win.
Laurence scored her second goal of the tournament and the only goal of the day at 14 minutes into the contest with a banana kick from the corner that went straight into the net.
For their final game of the year, Newcastle had the opportunity to prove once and for all who was the better team as they faced off against Buffalo in the consolation championship on Saturday morning. After narrowly edging them out for the No. 1 seed from the east, there were some doubters despite the fact that Newcastle tied and then defeated the Lady Bison during the regular season. 
No doubters remained, however, after Newcastle defeated Buffalo once again with a 4-2 score, bringing home the fifth-place, consolation championship trophy.
“It was amazing and I was just so proud of the girls’” Willyard said. “We definitely held the rope for each other.”
The Lady Dogies finished with a 10-2-2 record with their only two losses coming from Gering, Neb., in their first game of the year and the first round state tournament game which ended in a shootout.
 Volleyball team punches state ticket
For the first time in seven years, the Lady Dogies won their way into the 3A State Volleyball tournament. They did so by clawing and battling their way through a tough 3A East Regional Tournament bracket, and, when the smoke cleared, walked away with fourth place and a state berth.
First up for Newcastle at the regional tournament were the Wheatland Lady Bulldogs who had slipped to the No. 2 seed from the Southeast Quadrant after the final weekend of the regular season. The two teams had not seen each other since early in the season, so each had some catching up to do. It didn’t take long to see that the Lady Dogies clearly had the upper hand over the Bulldogs.
The squad came out playing like a well-oiled machine from the start, repeatedly attacking the net and making few mistakes on their side of the court. Meanwhile, Wheatland helped out the Lady Dogies with their first round win by committing quite a few errors themselves.
Newcastle dominated the first set cruising to an easy 25-11 win. The second set was a little sloppy, but Anderson’s crew was able to keep pushing the attack to keep the Bulldogs on their heels and came from behind to take it 25-17. The third set was another one controlled exclusively by the Lady Dogies as they took both set and match 25-13.
The win advanced the squad to the semi-final match on Friday afternoon against Buffalo. The Lady Bison had earned their way to the semis with a four-set defeat of Rawlins earlier in the day.
Buffalo played extraordinarily well all weekend and the semifinal match on Friday was certainly no exception.
The Lady Bison were just too much for Newcastle, defeating them in three straight
sets 25-13, 25-15, and 25-21, and they would go on to become the 3A East Regional champions. 
After the loss, the girls were upset, but Anderson reminded them that either team they would take on in the loser-out game the next afternoon — Torrington or Thermopolis — they had beaten twice before, so as long as they played their game, they were going to the state tourney.
“Obviously, playing for first place would have been fun but going to state is pretty cool, too,” Anderson said. “So I just wanted to make sure the girls could refocus and be ready to play on Saturday.”
The high stakes contest against Torrington on Saturday afternoon was a battle for both teams. The Lady Trailblazers and the Lady Dogies were fighting for their season and to play another day so both teams gave it everything they had.
Newcastle started strong and quickly pulled out to an 8-2 lead, but then Torrington came blazing back to pull within reach. Late in the set, the Lady ‘Blazers went on a 7 to 0 run which gave them the momentum to take it with a 25-19 advantage.
That was the wake-up call for Newcastle as they rallied to take sets two and three 25-18 and 25-17 respectively. With the two-set lead, the teams headed into the fourth set where Torrington was prepared to fight for their lives. The Lady Dogies were able to pull to an 8-point advantage, but then the ‘Blazers made a late game push to tie things up at 24. From there the two teams went point for point with the lead changing hands three times until Newcastle finally put them away with their 29-27 point win. 
With the win, the Lady Dogies punched their ticket to the state tournament, but they still had one more match to go to determine seeding for that tournament. Douglas had also secured a spot, so the two would play for third and fourth.
Douglas jumped out on Newcastle to start, pulling ahead by as much as 9 before the Lady Dogies came crawling back. Time ran out for Anderson’s squad, however, and they dropped the first set 21-25.
That first set warmed them up, however as the second was almost a mirror opposite with Newcastle dominating the Lady Bearcats to cruise to a 25-18 win, tying up the match.
In the third set, it became apparent that the Lady Dogies were running out of steam, when at one point two players watched a ball drop between them — a rarity for this team. The Lady ‘Cats were able to go back up one set by taking the third, 25-20. 
The fourth set was do or die, and Newcastle decided to do, cruising to a pretty easy 25-17 win to tie things up once again.
With each team having won two sets apiece, this brought up the pivotal fifth set which was a battle from start to finish where the biggest lead of the game was enjoyed by Newcastle with just a 3-point differential.
“Douglas thought it was a fluke that we beat them during the season, so we had something to fight for,” said Anderson. “The girls made them work for every single point, and we actually scored more points than they did even though they ended up taking the win.”
The two teams traded 1-point leads as the score neared 15, but Douglas would ultimately get the 17-15 win to finish in third place.