(Lander, WY) – It was one of the biggest tests in just their third and fourth games of the season for Lander Valley soccer. Friday saw them host Cody. Both CHS teams were ranked heading into the match. Both Lander soccer teams were ranked as well.
The girls contest was a rematch of last year’s state championship game where the Fillies came out on top. In a battle of the top two ranked teams in Class 3A, history repeated itself when they Lady Fillies scored early and shutout the Lady Tigers in a 4-0 loss.
The Lander boys put up a fight. Having a tied game in the first half, Cody would outscore Lander 2-0 in the second half to come out on top 4-2. Calum Wheeler and Silas Wheeler were the two for the Tigers to put the ball in the back of the net in the contest both in the first half.
Lander soccer was looking for bounce-back wins on Saturday when they battled their second park county team in Powell. The Lady Tigers would trade goal with Powell in the first half. Anna Neilson scored in the 34th minute of the contest for Lander Valley. Both teams traded goals in the second half. Mason Morton would give the Lady Tigers a 2-1 lead before Powell scored again.
In the 68th minute, Lander was given a golden opportunity with a plenty by the Lady Panthers in the goalie box. Mason Morton would take the PK shot and would covert to have the Lady Tigers up 3-2. The defense would hold and give Lander the 3-2 victory.
The Lander boys saw the second-ranked Powell Panthers on the pitch and would look to split their weekend against Park County teams. The Panthers would come out early scoring in the 16 minutes of the match and the 35th minute. The Tigers would have their own penalty kick in the 36 minutes of the contest. Wheeler would notch his second goal of the weekend and enter the half down 2-1.
Powell would score again early in the second. to make it 3-1. Lander once again had a chance to cut the lead back down to one. Wheeler went 2-2 on penalty kicks and cut the lead back down to one. The Panthers made their fourth goal after Cody Elliot saved the pk and Powell scored before Elliot could recover making it 4-2. The final goal for Lander came off a save free kick where Carter Ayers was right in front of the goal and scored making it now 4-3 in the 74 minutes of the match. Lander however couldn’t score after that with Powell sealing the 4-3 win over Lander dropping their second game against Park County.
Lander will host Green River Tuesday, April 17 at 3 and 5 p.m. at Bill Busch Stadium. Stay tune on our Twitter for score updates throughout the contest.