Rock Springs Tiger Soccer

On Saturday May 23rd the Rock Springs Tigers played in the 2009 State Soccer Cup Consolation Finals against the Gillette Camels. The Camels were more aggressively on the offensive end then were the Tigers and seemed to be a step faster all match long. The Camels scored twice on the Tigers in the first half, scoring coming in the 16th and 26th minute. The Tigers did step up their game and intensity in the second half but found themselves in a difficult deficit. The Camels added an insurance goal in the 49th minute to take the lead three to zero. That lead would prove to be the final score. The Tigers ended their season with 11 wins and 9 losses. They also ended the season with a 6th place finish at the State Cup. The seniors on the 2009 squad; Tevin Beaver, Gilbert Gonzalez, Garrett Hay, Bryce Kalista, Erick Mata and Cody Rall all played their last match for the orange and black. These seniors represented themselves and their team very well and we are proud of them and what they and the...

On Friday May 22nd at the 2009 State Soccer Cup in Sheridan WY the Rock Springs Tigers played against the Riverton Wolverines. This was a match-up where the losing team's season was over, it was also a match-up of future 4A west conference opponents. It was a highly contested match with several fouls and yellow cards for both squads. The only goal of the first half was scored by Gilbert Gonzalez in the 28th minute on a kick from about 25 yards out that the opposing keeper had no chance at saving. That goal proved to be the game winner. The game was 1 to 0 at the half and saw both teams play ever faster and more physical in the second half. The game was very tight until the 75th minute when Gilbert Gonzalez scored again, this goal from a free-kick taken about 19 yards out that bent around the wall and beat the keeper. The Tigers held onto a 2 to 0 victory. Bryce Kalista collected the clean sheet, the 7th of the season for him, and the 8th shutout for the Tigers on the year. The Tige...

On Thursday May 21st the Tigers squared off against the #1 team in the state, the Cheyenne Central Indians, at the Big Horn Equestrian Center in Sheridan WY. The Tigers had a good strategy and good execution however the Indian were a more talented squad and came away with the victory. The Indians scored in the 7th minute and then sneaked two more goals in right before the half in the 35th and 37th minute. The Tigers down 3 to zero at half regrouped and played hard and inspired in the second half but could not score on the stingy Central defense. The Indians scored their fourth and final goal in the 58th minute. The loss means the Tigers enter into the consolation portion of the tournament and the best they can finish is fifth place at the 2009 State Soccer Cup. The Tigers record falls to ten wins and eight losses. Man of the Match - Storie Ratcliff (making the best defender in the state work and for the Mohawk) Up Next for the Tigers: vs Riverton in an elimination match at state.

On Thursday the Tigers played against the Evanston Red Devils in an elimination game played in Afton. The Tigers came out victorious against Evanston by a score of 4 to 0. Erick Mata scored the lone goal of the first half in the fifteenth minute. Erick Mata added his second goals in the second half less than a minute after the restart. Storie Ratcliff had a goal and an assist in the match. Garrett Hay had two assists and Pat Walker finished off the scoring for the Tigers. As RS ended the Red Devil's season and punched the Tiger's ticket to the State Soccer Cup. Matt Lehman also added an assist during the match. The win improved the Tigers record to 10 wins and 5 losses. Man of the match - Erick Mata (Two goals) In the second game at regionals played on Friday the Rock Springs Tigers squared off against their Sweetwater County rivals the Green River Wolves in Afton. The Wolves took an early lead in the game and never looked back scoring in the eleventh minute and the seventh mi...

On Saturday in Rock Springs the Tigers wrapped up their regular seaso n and recognized their soon to be graduating seniors when they played host to the Star Valley Braves. The majority of the match was dominated in play by the Tigers. However, Rock Springs just seemed to not find the scoring touch. The Tigers finally found the back of the next in the 38th minute when an Erick Mata cross found Matt Lehman on the back post and Lehman headed it in. The score stood at 1 to 0 at the half in favor of the Tigers. The second half saw the Tigers get more aggressive on the offensive third and this half the Tigers chances all seemed to find their mark. Goals came in the 55th, 67th, 71st and 76th minute. The goal scorers were Storie Ratcliff twice, Tevin Beaver and Luke Aust. Assisting on the goals were Gilbert Gonzalez, Garrett Hay and Storie Ratcliff. The Tiger defense and goalie were both very tough and kept the Braves from scoring on the afternoon, this was the Tiger's sixth shuto...

On Tuesday at a blistery Crossroads Park the Tigers outlasted a very feisty Evanston Red Devil team for a RS victory 4 - 3. The Tigers got on the board first when a Storie Ratcliff kicked ball was deflected off of an Evanston player and was mishandled by the Red Devil keeper. Officially this was scored as an own goal against the Devils this was in the 14th minute of play. The Tigers scored their second and final goal of the half when Gilbert Gonzalez booted a 25 yard shot that found the top corner of the net in the 19th minute. The Tigers took a 2 - 0 lead into the half and had to go against the wind in the second half. The Devils scored first in the last half at the 43rd minute mark to cut the lead to 2 - 1. The Tigers scored twice on a goal from Storie Ratcliff and a converted penalty kick from Erick Mata for what seemed like a safe lead of four to one. Ratcliff's goal was in the 63rd minute with the assist being credited by Garrett Hay. The Mata penalty kick goal was in the 60th...

On Saturday in Casper the Rock Springs Tigers squared off against the Kelly Walsh Trojans. It was a rematch of the Tigers first conference game when they defeated the Trojans one to zero. On Saturday the Trojans took early control of the game and show many first half opportunities when they had 10 corner kicks in the first half. However the Tiger defense was tough including freshman goalkeeper Tyler Wilkinson and did not allow Kelly Walsh to score. The Tiger's Gilbert Gonzalez scored the first goal in the 36th minute of the game off of a Garrett Hay assist. The score was Tigers one and Trojans zero at the half. The Tigers came out of the halftime with added emotion and intensity and were able to gain back control of the possession and tempo of the game. The Tigers tallied twice more in the second half both scores coming from Storie Ratcliff. Storie's first score coming off of a free kick by Gilbert Gonzalez that he headed in and the second coming off of a good pass from Gar...

On Friday in Casper the Tigers played against the 4A West Region Leaders the Natona County Mustangs. The Tigers were unable to mount much of any offense in the game and played way too much defense. The Mustangs scored first in the 36 th minute on a penalty kick and took a one to zero lead into the halftime break. The Tigers were not able to put much pressure on the NC defense in the second half and allowed too many opportunities to the Mustangs who scored in the 52 nd , 60 th and 67 th minute. This setback puts the Tigers currently in 3rd place in the conference with 3 games left to play. The Tiger's record stands at 6 - 5 - 0 and 4 - 3 - 0 in the conference . Man of the match: Luke Aust (The only player to play 80 minutes) The JV version of the Tigers pulled off their eighth victory of the season by beating the young Mustangs by a score of four to two. The JV Tigers over came a two to one deficit to beat their conference rivals. Up Next for the Tigers: On Saturday a...