Lady Wolves dominate against Lady Wranglers

The Green River High School Girls Soccer team started their regular season off on the right foot with a big win over Pinedale at home.

The Lady Wolves took on the Pinedale Wranglers Thursday afternoon. Green River was able to get ahead early in the game and never slowed down, ultimately winning 13-1.

Head Coach Matthew Robles explained that the game went the way they hoped since they got ahead early and kept pressure on the other team. He added that they wanted the first conference game to make a statement.

"We really wanted to come out and make sure that people realize that this team is different than the team we had last year," he said. "We really wanted to make sure we were keeping the pedal to the metal."

One of the main players who contributed with keeping the pedal to the metal was Isabel Vasco, the leading scorer for the Lady Wolves. Coach Robles said she "changes the game" for the team, and just by "doing what she does" against Pinedale she was able to score 10 goals in addition to having two assists.

"I can't find anywhere in school records that anybody scored 10 goals for the girls soccer team, so to the best of our knowledge it is a school record for most goals in a game," Robles added.

While Vasco is only a sophomore, she was voted to be a team captain by her teammates, and Coach Robles pointed out that she has embraced that leadership role this year.

"She's been great to have on the team and she's worked so hard," he said of Vasco.

In addition to Vasco, the team is full of other strong players, like Claira Kuball and Brynlee Cordova. Robles explained that other teams want to put all their players on Vasco to stop her, but have to also watch out for Kuball and Cordova, who can contribute just as much and are able to "add another layer and dimension" to the team.

In the game against Pinedale, Kuball scored two goals. The other point in the game came from Sophomore Jazy Hunt in her first goal of the season, which was encouraging for the whole team, according to Robles.

"It's good for the other girls to start getting that momentum built up heading into the bulk of our season," he said.

The game against Pinedale also provided a unique opportunity to give the entire team more practice and momentum, as several varsity players from the starting lineup were gone because of spring break. Several team members ended up playing different positions than normal, and almost every girl on the team ended up getting time on the field.

"It did make it a little bit of a challenging experience," Robles admitted. "But we knew we were in a good place and we had some girls that were flexible and able to move around and play in different places."

The team stayed strong defensively by shutting down their opponents and limiting their opportunities. And because the Lady Wolves have been focusing on possessing and passing the ball, they were able to worry less about the positioning, which helped during the game.

"We're focusing on just playing good, solid, full-team soccer, and it's helping a lot," Robles said.

The game also gave the coaches the chance to experiment with the Junior Varsity players, Robles explained, giving them the opportunity to play and get more experience. For all the players throughout the game, from the oldest to the youngest, Coach Robles wanted them to keep putting the concepts they're learning into practice and focus on playing their own brand of soccer.

Experimenting with the team's normal positions and playing times and coming away with a strong victory was an exciting way to start the regular season.

"It just shows them that if we're playing the way we're supposed to, we're a very difficult team to play against," Robles said.

This week the Lady Wolves have a break, which will give them time to rest and get the athletes who were gone back into the fold, according to Coach Robles. Then the team will hit the ground running, playing seven games in 16 days, starting with hosting Powell and Cody next week.

"Those are bigs ones for us," Robles said of next week's games, noting that they were the top teams in the conference last year. "That's kind of our measuring stick. If we can hang with those two teams. . .we will feel very confident for the rest of the year."