Kicking off the season the right way

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Lady Dogies were a weekend behind many 3A teams in getting their 2019 season started, but they wasted no time proving they were keeping up as they went 2-1 at the Green River Tournament last Friday and Saturday. According to head coach Bryce Hoffman, this is the best start his squad has ever had.
Newcastle drew a challenging slate of opponents, beginning with the two-time defending state champion Cody Fillies, and followed that up with the 4A Star Valley Lady Braves, only to finish against the Lady Outlaws of Rawlins. All three of these teams presented a unique set of adversity for the Lady Dogies.
“It was a really good opening weekend, especially given we only had a day and a half of practice outside, and then on only about a third of the field,” Hoffman began. “I don’t know that we’ve ever left an early season tournament with a winning record, so it was great to do that and have a positive feeling going forward.”
Hoffman admitted that when they left for Green River, there were still quite a few missing pieces that his squad had not had an opportunity to address. As such, he wasn’t sure how they would come out against Cody.
Despite losing the contest 0-3, Hoffman was pleased with how his girls performed against the powerhouse squad.
“I really felt like we handled everything they did pretty well,” he exclaimed. “Even though we let three goals into the back of the net, we outshot them 8-7 and the things that occurred which allowed them to score are all things we can fix.”
The Fillies were able to score two of their three goals in the first half. However, the Lady Dogies tightened things up in the second half, only allowing one shot on goal in the final 40 minutes of play.
“Soccer can’t always be measured by the score, because there’s a lot more that goes on,” Hoffman began. “We talked during the half and the girls really settled in and played when they went back out. I felt like it was much closer than a 3-0 game, and I felt like the girls played very well.”
The loss sent the Lady Dogies into the round-robin tournament on Saturday, where they drew the early 9:00 a.m. contest against Star Valley.
“It was pretty exciting to play against a 4A team to see where we stacked up against them,” Hoffman nodded. “I felt like we dominated possession of the ball and pushed the pace, while they just kind of sat back and had eight on defense most of the game.”
Because of that defense heavy game plan, the Lady Dogies found it nearly impossible to create opportunities for shots on goal, and because the Braves rarely pushed the offensive attack, they also had few viable scoring opportunities. As such, much of the contest was played in the midfield.
Newcastle was only able to wrangle three shots on goal, while Star Valley was in a similar boat. Goalkeepers Alaina Laurence and Angel Perez were able to make
saves on those attempts with the former snagging two
shots in the first half and the latter making a big save in
the second. 
Because the score was tied at 0-0 at the end of regulation, the game was then decided by a shootout. The rules regarding shootouts is that each team chooses five team members who rotate taking penalty kicks at the goalie. The team who leads at the end of those five shooters wins and the score of the game is recorded as 1-0.
“We picked our shootout roster on Friday, so the kids knew who would get the nod should the situation present itself,” Hoffman explained. “We didn’t want to make the decision on the fly because we wanted the girls mentally prepared if needed.”
Sophomore Hailey Wehri was up first for Newcastle and she was right on the money, putting her team up 1-0 after the first round.
Star Valley hit their second opportunity, while the Lady Dogies missed. The Lady Braves’ third shot also found its way into the back of the net, after which sophomore Claire Beastrom stepped up and hit a beautiful PK into the backside of the net to tie it at two.
Star Valley would go on to miss their fourth and fifth shots, while Caitlyn Pehringer shot the Lady Dogies’ fourth opportunity into the left side of the back of the net to seal the victory for her team.
“The girls were very excited, and it was a good win against a quality, 4A opponent,” Hoffman grinned. “It was something we hadn’t done for a long time it’s been since 2007 that we have beaten Star Valley.”
The final contest of the weekend had Newcastle pitted against Rawlins in a non-conference matchup. This was another game which Hoffman thought his squad dominated, however they were unable to break the Lady Outlaws down enough to score on them.
Once again, the Lady Dogies’ opponent got off three shots on goal, and once again it was Laurence who saved the first two and Perez who saved the last. The save by Perez
was once again huge, given it came with only 30 seconds remaining in the contest, pushing it to yet another shootout to decide the winner.
Unlike the Star Valley game, this shootout was much longer and much more intense. After the first five shooters had finished, the score was still tied at 2-2. From that point, each team took it one shot at a time, both with the opportunity to score. After each makes their attempt, the one leading wins. 
Between misses, and ice cold water running through the veins of the goalkeepers and those hitting successful shots, the two teams went through 20 shooters before the game was decided in favor of Newcastle, who bested Rawlins 9-8 in the shootout.
Laurence manned the goal through all 20 shots, saving 6 of the 12 legitimate Lady Outlaws’ shots. In what Hoffman described as the longest shootout he’s ever seen, Pehringer and Beastrom both scored two, while Madi Pearson, Wehri, Laurence, Alaina Steveson and LaKaycee Lipp each scored one. 
“The pressure on Alaina was pretty big throughout the whole thing, because Rawlins was the second shooter,” Hoffman declared.”She ended up making a diving save on Rawlins’ last shooter, which ultimately won the game for us, and she made a shot of her own as well.”
Hoffman and his squad have big back-to-back contests this weekend as they open up conference play for the season. Given that state qualification requires that teams end their season in the top four, every game counts toward that goal.
The Lady Dogies will host the Lady Bearcats of Douglas this Friday in their home opener, and will travel to Rawlins on Saturday for a rematch against the Lady Outlaws. Though they didn’t have an opportunity to see Douglas last weekend, the Lady Cats also went 2-1 in Green River.
“We can’t just be satisfied with the result from last weekend, we have to keep building and getting better,” Hoffman determined. “Douglas and Rawlins are both going to be coming ready to play because every game matters at this point. If you go 2-0 this weekend, you feel really good about your state qualifying chances. If you go 0-2, on the other hand, you’re behind the eight ball and have to win games. We want to put ourselves in the best position possible going forward.”
The Lady Dogies will kick off at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, with the Dogies’ contest to follow at 5 p.m.