Lady Wolves prepare for regionals

The Green River High School Girls Soccer Team will hit the field for their first regional game today, going up against Kelly Walsh in a win-or-go-home match.

The Lady Wolves are headed into regionals as underdogs, particularly after losing to Kelly Walsh 5-0 last Friday and losing to Natrona County 2-0 last Saturday.

“We came out kind of flat,” coach Matthew Robles said of last week’s game against Kelly Walsh. “But the girls did fight,” he added. “We were only down one to nothing in the first half.”

Green River played mostly defense the first half and didn’t play enough offense, according to Robles, which tired them out and made it hard to keep up in the second half when Kelly Walsh pulled ahead.

Saturday’s game against Natrona County was a closer competition, despite being another loss.

“We actually were tied at zeros for the first 60 minutes of the game,” Robles explained. “We played very well against Natrona.”

The main struggle in both of last week’s games was finding and scoring goals, Robles said — a struggle he hopes the team will be able to take care of before their regional match today. He particularly thinks scoring a goal early in the game would help settle the girls’ nerves and build their confidence.

“We know we’re at a situation where it’s going to be a tough physical game and we’ve just got to be ready for it,” Robles said.

All season, Green River has faced tough competition in the 4A West region, which has four of the top five teams in the state. Kelly Walsh in particular hasn’t lost a game all year, with six wins and six ties.

“We do know our backs are kind of against the wall,” Robles said. “We know beating them is going to be a tall order. But there’s always that time for somebody to lose.”

If the Lady Wolves win against Kelly Walsh, they will qualify for state and play against Rock Springs in the semifinals. If they lose today, the girls soccer team’s season will be over.

“We have everything to play for on Thursday and I hope the girls are ready for it,” Robles said. “I feel like we’re ready.”