Ladies’ first weekend brings trial by fire
The Lady Dogies started their season with a trial by fire as they traveled to Powell and Cody last Friday and Saturday to take on the top two teams in the state. Both teams lived up to their rankings as the Panthers defeated head coach Cami Willyard’s team 8-1, and the Fillies prevailed 5-0.
“When you go into playing the number one and number two pre-season teams, it’s going to be a challenge,” Willyard said. “It was a good experience though. In both games we learned different things, we found players shining in different spots, and we worked on finding where we can gel this season.”
On Friday, the Lady Dogies were up against the No. 1-ranked Powell team who Willyard described as very talented and loaded with skilled players who possess the ball well.
“They have a pair of sisters who both play the midfield and they are very, very
good,” Willyard said. “Those two scored all their goals against us.”
The Lady Dogies went into the half down 6-0, so they had a deep hole to try to dig out of when they returned to the pitch.
“There were a couple of goals in that first half that were because we had a lapse on defense, but four of them were just really good plays and unstoppable,” Willyard said. “So we went into the second half trying to keep an eye on those two players and to get our midfield a little bit more concise and working together, and we played them 1-2 in the second half.”
The Powell coach did sub in the second half, but at least one of the talented midfielders was in the game at all times.
Newcastle was able to sneak one past the Panthers to get on the board with 10 minutes to play in the contest. Taylor Conklin was attacking in the middle of the field and laid it off to freshman Tealah Stevenson on the left wing and she took a touch and shot it, finding the back of the net.
“It was great for a freshman to get hers, and our, first goal of the year,” Willyard said. “It was also a great positive for us to take from the game.”
On Saturday, the Lady Dogies took on the Fillies in Cody, and according to Willyard, the game was much more competitive than the 5-0 score seemed to indicate.
“If I was to give it a score, it was more like a 2-0 game,” Willyard said.
Though Newcastle gave up three goals in the first half, and Cody got one in 10 seconds into the second frame of play, the Lady Dogies played the Fillies 0-0 for the proceeding 38 minutes.
“Again, it was a much better second half,” Willyard said. “The girls stepped up and we possessed more and found feet more than we did against Powell, so that was a positive going forward.”
Willyard noted that Ruth Rose was all over the place at the center defensive mid position, and that she and Conklin are really starting to get that area of the field figured out.
Christine Swentesky performed well as goalkeeper over the weekend, making 14 saves on Friday and 28 on Saturday.
“She did really well and there was one save she made on Friday that was coming in really hot,” Willyard said. “I don’t know if she will be able to save another goal coming in that hard for the rest of the season, but you never know!”
“This weekend was nice for our girls to see a couple of very disciplined teams,” Willyard said. “Overall it was a good weekend for us with the girls learning a lot.”
This week, the Lady Dogies will continue to face adversity as they travel to Douglas on Friday to take on the No. 4-ranked Lady Bearcats, then will head to Worland for a contest against the Lady Warriors on Saturday.