The Pershing County High School soccer team played three games this past week.
On Wednesday, April 7, they hosted Incline, losing 0-4. Friday, they beat visiting West Wendover (5-0).
Finally, on Saturday, they lost to Whittell on the road 8-0.
Many of the girls go on to softball or track, due to begin six-week seasons.
Soccer coach Matt Fuller and his wife, Cassidie, will mentor the track team.
Their daughter Kylee, a seasoned soccer player, is also a distance runner.
The soccer team ends its season at 5-4-1, with 27 goals to their credit.
They said farewell to two seniors at the senior day game against Wendover. Connie Kersnowski and Yasmin Zaldivar graduate this spring.
Kersnowski played on the team for four years. Zaldivar competed for two.
When she started as a freshman, Connie didn’t know the first thing about soccer, but she was so coachable it didn’t take long for her to catch on,” said asst. coach Eva Matuszyk. “I believe we had her set as a defender from the beginning, but she could have played any position. This year we had her play midfield and forward a few times, and she put some goals under her belt.”
“Yasmin was always positive at practice and willing to try,” continued Matuszyk. “She easily recognizes when she can do better and always tries to get it right the next time.”
The rest of the team consists of three freshmen, four sophomores and two juniors. Miya Gallagher, Rylee Renfroe and Mikayla Leavitt are freshmen.
“Miya has grown defensively. By the end of the season, she was able to take the ball away, move it and find a pass,” said Matuszyk. “Rylee played defense towards the end of the season to help her develop her defensive skills, and she did amazing. Mikayla has grown to be incredibly aggressive.”
“I had no idea what the freshmen would have in store for us, but I was not expecting them to be as resilient as they were.”
The four sophomores are Hannah Gonzalez, Tavis Hunt, Cora Trowbridge and Julie Chandler.
“Hannah got better at trapping and finding passes. Her positivity is infectious,” said Matuszyk. “Cora is like a human wall. She was timid last year, but now she’ll trap almost any ball. She has also grown in her ability to control her traps and pass the ball up the field”.
“Tavis is aggressive, but her growth lies in getting and maintaining possession of the ball until she can find a pass. Julie has pushed herself to be better conditioned and has figured ways to advance the ball with through-passes, passing the ball through the defense so the center forward can pick it up and score,” said Matuszyk.
Kylee Fuller and Anna Jimenez are juniors.
“Kylee has developed a lot as the center midfielder. She sees the game well and has good direction in her passes to advance plays. Anna got better at getting open for line passes, turning the ball up the field to advance it to the forwards. The sophomores and juniors showed grit in their ability to persevere.”
The team played their last few games without substitutes, putting their conditioning to the test for the full 80 minutes. According to Matuszyk, they never used the disadvantage as an excuse.
The senior send-off against West Wendover gave each Mustang a chance to shine. Kersnowski, Fuller, Leavitt and Trowbridge all scored goals, delighting of the home crowd watching from their cars due to Covid restrictions.
“We are grateful for this time,” concluded Matuszyk. “I’m glad to have seen Connie and Yasmin compete one more season. I was worried I would miss out on watching them play. They did not disappoint. I hope we get more girls out next year because we will be a force to be reckoned with.”
