Heart Mountain United teams get a title in Sheridan

Posted 5/25/17

U8 Boys

The Heart Mountain United U8 Boys won three out of four games playing in the Snickers Cup’s copper division, having a “fabulous weekend,” said coach Pat D’Alessandro.

The wins against Rawlins and Worland were both …

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Heart Mountain United teams get a title in Sheridan

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The Heart Mountain United Soccer Teams won a number of games at the Snickers Cup in Sheridan — including taking a title — on May 13-14.

U8 Boys

The Heart Mountain United U8 Boys won three out of four games playing in the Snickers Cup’s copper division, having a “fabulous weekend,” said coach Pat D’Alessandro.

The wins against Rawlins and Worland were both 4-1.

“The Worland win was especially gratifying because the boys got revenge for a loss earlier this spring where Worland came back from a three-goal deficit to win by one goal,” D’Alessandro said.

The third win of the weekend came against Cody, with “the game-winning goal being scored just seconds before the final whistle,” he said, adding that his U8 boys “have developed quite a rivalry with Cody.” Among five games this spring, each team has won two games and tied in the other.

Heart Mountain’s lone loss was to the SC Storm, 5-2.

U8 Girls

“The Heart Mountain U8 Girls gave a terrific performance,” said coach Jessica Lum.

After a win against Sheridan, 2-0, and a loss to Riverton, 3-6, “the girls gave a stellar performance ... against the Cody Yellowstone Fire,” said Lum.

Powell beat Cody 7-4, putting them in the championship match against Casper on Sunday, May 14.

“Though the team was tired, they mustered all their remaining energy to score a goal mid-way through the first half,” Lum said. “Despite scoring opportunities for both teams, Heart Mountain maintained the score and shut-out Casper the rest of the game, earning them a first place victory. The Heart Mountain U8 girls gave it their all and fought hard to win this tournament.”

Goal scorers for the weekend were Ava Brewer, Hailee Gorsuch, Ily Williams, and Emery Hernandez.

U10 Co-ed

Posting a “huge accomplishment,” the U10 group took second place in Sheridan, said coach Brian Orr.

The first game was against Green River’s U9 team.

“We jumped on them early and were able to control the game en route to a 9-0 win,” Orr said.

The next game was against Green River’s U10 team, who Orr said “is a tough group.”

“[Green River] had never allowed more than one goal in a game all spring and we scored two, but lost 7-2,” Orr said.

Entering the next day’s game against Worland, Powell had the second-most points in pool play.

“All we needed was a win to advance to the championship game and the kids dominated Worland 5-2 for another chance at Green River’s U10 team,” said Orr. Led by assistant coach Carrie Peters, “the score remained a 3-1 deficit for most of the game,” Orr said. “Our kids battled very hard and gave Green River a great battle but ultimately came up short, losing 6-2.”

Over the weekend, goals were tallied by Caden Nelson, Braxton Batt, Kaden Hammond, Cayden Fink, Cody Fisher, Breckyn Kobbe and Emily Orr.

“Coy Erickson played exceptional defense,” said coach Orr adding “Brenna Henderson, Sean Ferguson, Braylon Marchant and Taylor Peters all played well in varying roles.”

U12 Co-ed

The U12 team, also coached by Orr, took the Snickers Cup.

“We were in control the entire weekend, never facing a deficit,” said Orr. “These were all games they should win and they did just that.”

Powell beat Worland 3-1, Riverton 4-1, Douglas 2-0 and Riverton again for the championship, 7-1.

Goals were tallied over the weekend by Morgan Hobbs, Gunnar Erickson, Will Jackson, Andrew Moretti, Chance Franks, Landon Hernandez and Aubree Fisher.

“At this point in the season, these kids know their roles and everything is much more methodical, starting with warm-ups and ending with the final whistle,” Orr said. “It is fun to watch them grow as leaders and players.”

Orr added that “Hobbs’ speed caused problems all weekend, running down through balls that would have gone out of bounds for most kids and [he] turned them into scores for himself or teammates.”

“Our defense was fantastic again,” the coach continued. “Riverton had a very fast player that always wanted to push the ball past us and then run onto it; Jacob Orr, Conner Boswell, Erickson and Franks were able to read his style of play and provide excellent support for each other and totally frustrated him.”

Goalkeeper Holden Cooper “generally had a quiet weekend, but had to make some key saves by coming out of his goal box to stop a one-on-one attack,” coach Orr said.

He added that McKenzie Fields, Jordyn Dearcorn, Parker Williams and Gracie Trotter were used in several different positions and played hard.

U15

At its opening game of the Snickers Cup, the U15 team played to a 1-1 with Gillette.

Coach Josh Westerhold said Powell “dominated the game throughout.”

At halftime, the score was 0-0.

“Gave up a very frustrating goal as Gillette’s center defender dribbled all the way through us and scored,” Westerhold said. “Addy Moretti had done a nice job of slowing him down as he crossed midfield and nobody stepped in after. Ultimately, tied it on an amazing individual effort by Sam Bauer to score.”

Westerhold said it was “frustrating not to get a win in a game we really controlled throughout. We had far more chances to score, just couldn’t convert.”

Powell lost its second game to Lander, 4-0.

“We played much better than the score indicates,” said Westerhold. “We were on the offensive end a fair amount early and had a few bad breaks that cost us.”

Powell was also missing two of its center midfielders for the weekend and “had to run Landon Sessions, Sam Bauer and Jesse Trotter into the ground,” the coach said. “We pretty much ran out of gas.”

Brandon Wentz started at right midfielder the entire weekend and played a lot of minutes.

“He has really embraced the position and played it perfectly,” said Westerhold. “His growth over the course of the season has been huge! Reece Bauer took his game to the next level also. Really nice to see him have a breakout game.”

On Sunday, May 14, Powell played Green River twice. The first contest ended in a 3-3 tie.

“The first game was yet again another example of how much we struggle to finish our opportunities,” Westerhold said. “Trevor Groves and Dylan Escalante each scored on what were just relentless individual efforts. Those guys have one speed: all out. We created dozens of scoring opportunities on overlapping runs by Wentz and Jack Pool but we just couldn’t finish them after they sent the ball across.”

Kaleb Brown scored the third goal for Powell.

In the later rematch against Green River for third place, the game “went more like the other games should have,” said Westerhold of the win. “We finished opportunities and controlled the game start to finish. Kaleb Brown notched a hat trick scoring all three goals.”

Westerhold said the most satisfying part of the weekend “was seeing the growth of our bench players.”

“We have some developing players whose minutes have been limited by our team play. They each have specific parts of their game they have been improving upon and when they got their chances in the last game, it showed,” he said.

Those who typically come off the bench for Powell are Addy Moretti, JT Prosser, Alex Martinez and Colton Brewer.

“When they were out there, they did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Westerhold said. “It’s exciting to see so many of them reaching their potential. I feel like we’re hitting our stride as we head into the State Cup.”

The Wyoming State Cup is set to run Saturday through Monday in Casper for all the U8-U15 teams.

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