The Heart Mountain United club soccer teams are back in action for the fall season.

Their first crack at competition began Sept. 7-8 with a trip south for the Casper Fall Cup. The 15U girls’ and U14 boys’ teams came away with the experience of playing older opposition, while the 10U squad won a title and 8U finished 2-1.

15U girls

With only one substitute player available and playing against many older players, the girls nonetheless kept competing even after defeats, the coaches said in their report of the tournament.

The girls fell to Casper Blades 11-0 in the opener as Rae Jackson and Charlie Taylor led the team on the field and won balls from the opposing team who, coaches said, was superior in skill and older. Kashi Collins played in her first club game for Heart Mountain as a fifth grader in 15U soccer. Coaches said she competed hard and played well defensively.

In the second contest Black Hills Rapids SC won 12-0.

The coaches said Taylor created most of the few opportunities that Heart Mountain was able to muster. She also had a PK the coach said she struck really well but was unlucky when it pinged off the post. Hadley Gutierrez played goalkeeper for Heart Mountain in the second half and had a handful of spectacular saves. Charity Fischer was the top defensive player and also showed a lot of skill with dribbling and passing out of pressure, coaches said.

The two teams met again, and this time Heart Mountain kept the score much closer, falling 7-0.

Coaches said Stella Leighton played a fantastic game creating a few goal scoring opportunities for her team while holding down the back line as a center defender. Mae Gilliatt strung together several passes and played the center midfield position exceptionally well. Reagan Clifford had several great saves frustrating the opposition all game long.

14U boys

The Heart Mountain 14U boys’ team, filled with a couple of 12U players and mostly 13U players, played tough opponents in the gold division and, coaches said, came away with a learning experience and valuable lessons learned.

Heart Mountain opened against Rapid City’s NPL level team and controlled the game from the beginning, with Paele Rapp scoring the first goal. Reese Ouellette and Parker Christler joined him in the scoring column, but breakdowns defensively allowed Rapid City to put in four goals for the 4-3 final.

The boys struggled in their next match against what coaches said was a very disciplined Real Billings team and lost 9-1, with Christler scoring the lone goal.

“Game three was against Real Billings’ other 14U team and we saw the growth and teamwork we expected out of this group of young men,” coaches said.

Rapp opened the scoring once again, this time with a 25-yard free kick which scored off of a dummy run by Luke Ryzewicz right in front of the goalie. Ryzewicz made it 2-0 with a shot in the run of play from nearly an identical spot to Rapp’s free kick. The teams went into halftime 2-0.

Real Billings scored first in the second half, but Heart Mountain was in control the rest of the game. Marco Esparza scored the third goal, with Rapp scoring the fourth, and Ouellette capping of the scoring with a deep shot from 30 yards out.

10U

The 10U coed team had a successful tournament in Casper. Playing in the silver division Heart Mountain narrowly lost to Gillette in the first game of the tournament 6-5 after a furious comeback down 6-2, scoring three goals in the final five minutes to nearly pull out the draw.

In the second game against Riverton, coaches saw huge growths and lessons from the early match that morning. The lessons paid off and Heart Mountain won 7-2, with Riverton only having a couple of shots beyond those two goals. 

Game three on Sunday morning was a physical contest against Casper, and coaches said all of the players showed their maturity by keeping their cool and continuing to play soccer the correct way. Heart Mountain won 5-1 and earned a path into the championship game.

In the championship game against Sheridan, there was never any doubt to the ending. The players continued to improve and show growth as they did the entire tournament and won the championship 5-0.

Throughout the tournament, the scoring was led by Weston Rohrer and JaeBe Rapp, while the defensive efforts were controlled by Cameron Shuler, Max Gunn and Oliver Timmons.

“All of the kids played extremely hard, were very coachable, and came away with gold medals,” coaches said.

8U

The Heart Mountain 8U team finished 2-1 at the Casper tournament.

The squad from Powell won the opener 11-2 against Casper and was led by the scoring attack of Tucker Baumann and Remi Gillett with three goals a piece, Carson Shuler with two goals, and a goal each from Ryan Cummings, Asher Desjarlais and Paxton Rohrer.

“Casper was overwhelmed by the pressure and intensity of the group that put pressure on the ball and passed well to get some great shots on goal that landed in the back of the net,” coach Kyle Rohrer said.

Heart Mountain won a closer second game 6-4 over a team from Black Hills, South Dakota.

The score was tied 3-3 at the half, but the team from Powell was able to keep up its scoring and stymie the opposition to grab the win from a team Rohrer said was strong and experienced.

Against an older group of athletes from Riverton that Rohrer said was both physical and skilled, Heart Mountain struggled, falling 6-1.

“They were consistent throughout the whole game and ended up with six goals,” the coach said. “The team learned a lot about marking up and communication.”

Rohrer said the team of six players, half with experience and half brand new to competitive play, had a successful first tournament of the fall.

“Overall, the coaches were thoroughly impressed with the effort and growth of all the athletes,” he said. “They played extremely hard and competed through all games.”