Wolves Soccer team struggles with injuries on and off the field

The Green River Wolves Soccer team played a conference game on Friday against the Natrona County Mustangs in Green River.

The Wolves came out on the field strong, wanting to redeem themselves from the two losses last week. In the first half of the game, Green River scored one goal while they kept Natrona at zero. The Wolves stepped up their game, scoring three goals in the second half to Natrona's one goal, securing the win with a final score of 4-1.

Leading the team was Braxton Doak with two goals and one assist. There were also single goals from Irie Kuball and Gavin Mares, along with one assist from Izyk Arellano. On the defense side, Goalkeeper Colter Davis had an impressive six saves at the net during the game.

Head Coach Josh Webb said he was pleased with how hard the boys played. He has had a hard time on the field with a lot of his starters out of the game, but he is thankful for the great athletes that have really stepped up to help the team out. He was hoping for the team to possess the ball more during the game and create more opportunities for themselves against Natrona, but overall it was a great win.

On Saturday, the Wolves took on the Kelly Walsh Trojans in Green River. During this conference game, Green River was unable to find the back of the net during the first half while Kelly Walsh scored three goals. In the second half of the game, Braxton Doak scored the one single goal for Green River and Kelly Walsh scored five more goals. Green River lost the game with a final score of 1-8.

Green River struggled through the game against the powerful Trojans' offense and defense. Green River's Goalkeeper Davis had a great defensive game with ten saves at the net while offensively, the rest of the team didn't have any success scoring.

"The game against Kelly Walsh was rough," explained Coach Webb. "We couldn't get anything going offensively and they applied a lot of pressure when we had possession of the ball."

Coach Webb felt some of the team's struggles against Kelly Walsh were due to half of the players being constantly sick and some of them being injured. Among the injured players are Guy Grace, who tore his ACL right before the season started and is out for the whole season. Maddux Hintz sprained his ankle during a wrestling tournament and Dominick Littlefield had an injury to his head in his welding class. Nathan Salvidar is also out for the rest of the season with a hip injury, along with Jake Demaret with a broken wrist from an injury on the field a couple weeks ago.

He believes the team can use their experiences to grow and improve. He said the boys really have their sights on placing in the top four during Regionals so they can make it to the State Championships. Experience playing tough teams from around the state can definitely be used to fuel a team and make it easier to see in what areas the team needs to improve.

Regardless of the issues among his team, Webb said Kelly Walsh played phenomenally and that "they're a good team and move the ball well."

Green River traveled to Star Valley to play a conference game against the Braves on Tuesday. It was a close game between the two teams, with Star Valley scoring one goal and Green River unfortunately losing with a final score of 0-1.

The Wolves will host a conference game against the Jackson Broncs on Friday at 5 p.m., which will be their last home game until Regionals in May. Next Thursday, Green River will travel to Evanston to play a conference game against the Red Devils at 5 p.m.