Jackson girls suffer 1st loss
The Lady Broncs’ first loss of the season is one the girls want back. Captain and senior Selah Hunter attributed the team’s loss to Natrona Friday night to a combination of rustiness from the long spring break and looking ahead to the ultra-tough Kelly Walsh Trojans.
Natrona 2, Jackson 1 (Friday)
Still, Jackson carried the play through the first 25 minutes or so, finalizing capitalizing on a goal from Hannah Freeze who tapped in a gimme as an errant ball rolled right to her along the back post. As good as the Broncs looked, to a player, they couldn’t help thinking it their 1-goal lead should have been more.
Just three minutes after Freeze’s opening tally the Fillies got even with a goal from Brooke Travers who found a rebound off of Katelynn Campbell’s penalty kick and knocked it home.
“I don’t think we were rattled by that goal,” Hunter said. “We were still expecting to win.”
But it was Natrona that got the next goal on a bit of a fluky play where some of the Lady Broncs defenders quit on a Fillies’ rush they thought was offsides. It wasn’t, and the breakdown allowed Natrona’s Chayse Graham to float one over the outstretched reach of Jackson keeper Sidney Nash.
The Lady Broncs did not go down without a fight. They peppered Natrona goalie Hannah Trumball who was equal to the task, stopping 17 Jackson shots on the afternoon to seal a 2-1 win over the Black & Orange.
Jackson 3, Kelly Walsh 1 (Saturday)
The Jackson girls did not have to wait long to get back in the win column as they faced off against Kelly Walsh Saturday morning.
“We were upset after the Natrona game. It was our first loss against a team we thought we should have beaten,” Hunter said.
It was co-captain Brooklyn Hills who rallied the team before Saturday’s match, telling her mates no way were they leaving Casper with two losses.
“That helped,” admitted Hunter, “and we were more focused against Kelly Walsh.”
Yet it was the Lady Trojans who opened the scoring before Jackson freshman Taya McClennen who tied the game at a goal apiece with her team-leading 7th goal of the season.
Jackson broke the 1-1 deadlock early in the second half when newcomer Albany McCooey fed a juicy crossing pass to Selah Hunter who did not miss. Her 7th tally of the season tied her with McClennen for the team lead but, more importantly, proved the game-winner for Jackson.
Junior Phoebe Alva Rosa notched the put-away goal—her 4th of the season—to give the Lady Broncs a 3-1 win.
Jackson now sits at #2 in the conference behind Natrona with a 5-1, 3-1 record. The girls travel to Afton Thursday to take on Star Valley (1-3) before returning home to host the Evanston Red Devils (1-3) on Friday.
