The Evanston High School girls’ soccer team played a pair of 4A West conference games late last week, struggling Thursday against Green River, but rebounding with a solid outing Friday against Rock Springs.

The Lady Wolves proved to be too much to handle offensively for Evanston in a 14-2 loss, but against the Lady Tigers, the home team was awarded a penalty kick in the closing minutes down 2-1. Lady Devil Dannon Kohler took the shot with a chance to tie but was unable to convert, with the Rock Springs keeper making a nice save to preserve the win.

Kristin Ayala-Gomez scored both goals in the loss against Green River, and Julia Barton found the back of the net against Rock Springs, with an assist by Kyrsten Hiatt.

“We had 51% of the possession in the first half against Rock Springs, and second half, we had 58% of the possession,” said EHS head coach Karalyn Barton. “We definitely were in that game. It was just a couple of little things that put the game in Rock Springs’ favor. I am so proud of our girls and how hard they played — from our defense to our midfield and offense, they all work so hard.”

The Lady Devils travel to Afton Thursday for a rematch with Star Valley, then are back home at Kay Fackrell Stadium Saturday for a match against Jackson.

Lady Devils win home opener April 10

Hosting longtime rival Star Valley for their home opener on April 10, the Lady Devils had everything working for them in an impressive 3-1 win.

Freshman Haven Hill scored her first career goal as a Lady Devil to get things started for the home team, giving Evanston a 1-0 lead.

“The Star Valley game was just so fun,” Barton said. “The first goal that went in, it was off of a corner that Star Valley had cleared back out. Tammy Dennis had taken the corner, and the ball cleared back out to her, and she just put a beautiful ball right back in. And Haven Hill just put it in the back of the net. It was a great first goal, and Haven’s reaction and the team’s reaction was a lot of fun. That got us off to a good start. We were a little unsure of how to do things, because we weren’t used to being in that much of an attacking position.”

Fellow freshman Kyrsten Hiatt scored the second goal of the contest, a through ball that she caught up to that put her in a 1-v-1 with the Lady Braves keeper.

“The second goal was the one Julia Barton gave a great through ball that Star Valley was playing pretty high in their back line,” coach Barton explained. “Julia put a great through ball, and literally no one was there. Kyrsten was tight — was able to dribble down — and did a great finish on goal to make it 2-0.”

Julia Barton scoring the Lady Devils’ final goal was an example of what happens when everyone is in the right place at the right time, doing exactly what their position calls for them to do, according to coach Barton.

“So that third goal, Julia’s the one that put it in the back of the net,” coach Barton said. “But Kyrsten Hiatt intercepted the ball — she was shielding the player — and she dropped the ball back to Evie Stahl. Evie passed it to Zoe Barker, who in turn, passed it off to Sidney Liechty. Sid got the ball to Olive Woodruff, and Olive went up the line and then passed the ball to Julia, who got past the defensive line and scored. So much of that goal was a team effort. It was just exciting to see. It’s obvious we have to work on our attacking third, you know, after that game, because I really think the score could have been even a little bit more than that. We just haven’t been in that position a lot this year. But the girls did awesome.”