Ladies play great first halves

Head soccer coach Cami Willyard noted that last week’s contests were both a tale of two halves as the Lady Dogies dropped their game against Buffalo at home on Thursday 0-7, and also against the Lady Outlaws in Rawlins on Saturday 1-6. 

“I really felt like it was anybody’s game in the first half against Buffalo,” Willyard said.

Though the Lady Bison out-shot the Lady Dogies 6-3 in the first 40 minutes of play, Willyard insisted that her team dominated the first 20 minutes of the contest. 

Buffalo was able to get one into the net off a corner kick at the 27-minute mark to go into the halftime break up only one over Newcastle.

“We went into the half pretty pumped up because we were definitely in it, despite missing three starters and having to play in those miserable conditions,” Willyard said. “We were playing well. We were countering, and creating offensive opportunities, so we were happy.”

In the second half, things began to spiral for the Lady Dogies. According to Willyard, the Lady Bison’s best player hit back-to-back goals in the 49th minute, and the game went downhill from there. 

Two more goals found their way into the back of the Dogies’ net in rapid succession, and then as the game neared its end, Buffalo scored twice more to take the win. 

“I think we just got tired,” Willyard said. “In the first half, our goal was to win 50/50 balls and be the first to the ball, and I felt like we did that. I think we just ran out of the gas we needed to be able to do those things in the second half.”

Between Tealah Stevenson and Hailey Beastrom, the Lady Dogies were also able to get off six shots on goal, while keeper Christine Swentesky made 12 saves, so Willyard felt that the 0-7 score was a bit deceptive of her team’s performance, at least in the first half. 

The Lady Dogies were down two players for their game in Rawlins, so only 12 Lady Dogies took the pitch on Saturday. 

Because of the low numbers, there was a lot of inexperience on the field. The absence of players meant a switch of formation for Newcastle, so there was not only overall inexperience, but all players were playing a little out of the norm, which required some adjustment. 

“We pulled Taylor [Conklin] back to the back line with Addie [Bergstrom] and Ruth [Rose](3-back line), and then Hailey and Cheyanne [Bloom] as the center defensive mids, and that actually worked really well,” Willyard said. “We might look into that going forward, even when we do get some of our other players back.”

Rawlins scored 12 minutes in and then not until the 38th minute to go into the half up 2-0 over Newcastle.

“We played so hard and I couldn’t have asked anyone to have played any better in the first half,” Willyard said. 

The Lady Dogies earned a free kick about 45 yards out with 21 minutes to play in the second half. Beastrom sent a nice ball with the initial kick, Stevenson collected it and shot a great ball over the keeper’s head to find the back of the net. 

Ruth Rose tried on a new look during the contest when she volunteered to take on the role of keeper with the hopes that it would help the team. The senior, who ordinarily plays on the defensive line, ended up with the most saves of any player in the contest with three. 

Bergstrom also had a save for the Lady Dogies when she had Rose’s back after a ball bounced over her head and was heading into the back of the net.

“We were down 1-5 when we gave up a one-on-one with Ruth in the goal. Hailey made a great recover run and saved Ruth from having to deal with that pressure situation,” Willyard said. “Then Addie made that great save as well, so I was just really proud of all of those girls for stepping up.”

“With everything we had to deal with, I really feel like we played our tails off. We played a better 80 minutes against Rawlins than we
did against Buffalo,” she continued. “I really couldn’t have drawn it up any better and I was really proud of the girls.”

Friday is senior night as the Lady Dogies host the No. 5 Worland Lady Warriors, with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m. Then, on Saturday at 10 a.m., is a rematch against Douglas as the No. 3 Lady Bearcats come to town.

Newcastle v. Buffalo 4/24/25 0-7

Tealah Stevenson: 0-4 shots on goal

Hailey Beastrom: 0-2 shots on goal

Christine Swentesky: 12 saves

Newcastle @ Rawlins 4/26/25 1-6

Tealah Stevenson: 1-2 shots on goal

Hailey Beastrom: 1 assist

Ruth Rose: 3 saves

Addie Bergstrom 1 save

Christine Swentesky: 1 save