Wildcats strike out but gain strength

Custer High School soccer brought the lightning but didn’t get to strike in the first games of the season. 
Things kicked off Friday, Aug. 15, with a home game against the Groton Tigers, and the Wildcats got off to a rough start, with the Tigers scoring a goal about 30 seconds into the game. Two more Tiger goals followed around six and eight minutes into the game. 
“When they scored a couple right off the bat, I was a little nervous. That just had to do with, I think, our physicality on those corner kicks. That’s something we’re certainly going to work on. But I felt pretty good about that game. I think that they improved throughout a lot. I felt like as time went on, they were really playing as much more of a cohesive team,” said head coach Hannah Rehmeier. 
With the Wildcats on the defense, the Tigers didn’t get another goal in until about 26 minutes into the game, with a fifth goal right before halftime. That was the end of the Tigers’ streak, though. 
In the second half of the game, the Wildcats held the line and did not let the ball get past them, with Wildcat goalie Bret Zapp lunging to catch the ball a few times. Rehmeier said the Wildcats were also moving the ball better as the game went on. 
Austyn Bergeron had to step out of the game early on due to some tightness in his calve muscles. Ethan Frank jumped off the bench to sub for him, “and did a really nice job,” said Rehmeier. 
“(Co-head coach) Paul (Blair) and I were both pretty happy with the direction it went, even though they ended up getting those few goals right away,” said Rehmeier. 
Due to lightning moving in the direction of the field, the game was called with 19 minutes left on the clock and a final score of 5-0 in the Tigers’ favor.
In hindsight, Rehmeier said she felt good about the game as a whole. 
“We walked into that game with only having the opportunity to have 12 practices and knew we were going to be missing some people this weekend, and we had some people that were going to be on the field that really haven’t ever played a full varsity game. Honestly, I felt pretty good,” said Rehmeier.
On Saturday, the game plan got changed up more than once. To help the James Valley Christian Vikings make it to a rescheduled game in Hot Springs, the game got moved up from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The Wildcats also had to change up their players when Zapp was injured during warm-ups and checked for a concussion. To cover the goal, Austin Hewett was pulled out of the midfield. 
“He was doing a great job of really distributing the ball and getting some movement happening on Friday. So it was kind of tough to do that,” said Rehmeier. “That hurt us a little bit in the middle, but I thought he did a really good job back there on Saturday.” 
However, Bergeron was back in action for the Saturday game, and after his performance Friday, Frank also earned a starting position in the game.
“We were pretty impressed with him (Frank) Friday. I thought he did a good job taking direction on defense. He was actually more physical than we’ve seen him, and we were really impressed with that,” said Rehmeier 
Rehmeier said the game against the Vikings looked similar to the game against the Tigers, and about 15 minutes into the first half, the Vikings scored a few goals in a row. 
“They were playing a through ball really, really well, and they had some speed. At the beginning, our defense was struggling a little bit with giving them a little bit too much space instead of forcing them off sides,” said Rehmeier. 
Rehmeier and Blair talked to the team about this over the water break and halftime, and it got better throughout the game. 
The Vikings scored a fifth goal about 17 minutes into the second half. Otherwise, the Wildcats held off the Vikings for the remainder of the game, playing in the rain for the last two minutes and wrapping up as lightning was spotted in the distance. 
“I felt like given the circumstances, with us not subbing at all and with us losing Bret and having to pull Austin, I felt like they did a really good job, and it was good to see it wasn’t a total blowout by any means. They really held their own,” said Rehmeier. 
Overall, Rehmeier felt that the defensive players grew throughout both games. To fill some gaps in experience, the Wildcats are trying different defensive formations, and Rehmeier said everyone is learning on the spot. 
“I think Xander and Sylar Dinius have both been big leaders for us back there when they’ve both been on the back line. Same with Kiran Pesicka. I think they’re doing a really good job of trying to navigate how to lead everybody,” said Rehmeier. 
To strengthen the offense, Rehmeier said they are looking at running some different formations once all their players are back and healthy. Rehmeier is hopeful that Zapp will be able to rejoin the team soon as well. 
The Wildcats played the Belle Fourche Broncs in an away game Tuesday, Aug. 19. Results were not available upon publication. 
Next, the Wildcats will face the St. Thomas More (STM) Cavaliers for an away game Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 5 p.m.
“I think that Belle will probably be a challenging game, but I’m hoping that we’ve learned a lot from these last two,” said Rehmeier. “STM, I’m confident by then, another week, we should have everybody, and hopefully everybody will be healthy. I think that could be a really good game for us.”