Cheyenne South girls fight off Thunder Basin for 1-0 victory

Apr. 6—CHEYENNE — Cheyenne South's defense rose to the occasion time and again and made an early goal stand up for a 1-0 victory over visiting Thunder Basin on Saturday afternoon.

"It's kind of scary knowing you're going to go against the wind up 1-0 against Thunder Basin for an entire half," South coach Brandon McHenry said. "Gabby and the defense held strong, the midfield played amazing connecting passes and getting us out of the defensive third.

"It was a huge defensive effort from the goalkeeper all the way up to the forwards."

Thunder Basin put 14 of its 19 shots on goal and got 12 corner kicks to South's one. The Bolts also pushed 11 players forward — including goalkeeper Morgan Shirley — on a series of corner kicks in the final 15 minutes, but weren't able to find the back of the net.

"It got a little stressful there at the end, but we kept reminding each other to play our hardest and keep going," Bison senior defender Carlee Wedemeyer said. "We didn't want to lose this match after leading for so long. We just keep playing together."

South (2-4-0 overall, 1-3-0 Class 4A East Conference) got just four shots total, including three on goal. Its first shot of the afternoon was the most important.

In the eighth minute, sophomore goalkeeper Gabby Cortez punted the ball down field with the wind at her back. Senior forward Emma Cortez had a Thunder Basin defender in front of her as she got to the ball about 20 yards away from the goal. The ball bounced away from Emma Cortez and back toward midfield as she was about to play it and take on the defender.

That bounce was fortuitous as it provided Emma Cortez the space she needed to unleash a right-footed shot that bounced off the hands of a diving Shirley and into the left side netting for a 1-0 South lead.

"The bounce set me up to be able to take the perfect shot," Emma Cortez said. "I was trying to make sure I was kicking into the wind so it would curve back to that top corner. I knew it was going to go in as soon as I kicked it."

That was the Bison's only shot on goal until it put two on frame late in the match.

Thunder Basin's best scoring chance came off a corner kick from the left side in the 56th. Gabby Cortez jumped in traffic and punched the ball over the crossbar for another corner kick. She finished with 14 saves.

Nine of the Bolts' 12 corner kicks came during the second half. They got 13 of their shots — including 11 shots on goal — in the final 40 minutes.

"Through our whole careers, we've talked about playing together and for each other and we did that," Wedemeyer said. "We know we've got the talent and passion and we want to prove South can win games and do some things. That kept us together and working hard for each other."

South hosts Cheyenne East on Wednesday and plays at Cheyenne Central on Friday. The win over the Bolts (2-2-2, 1-2-1) provides the Bison with an injection of confidence, Emma Cortez said.

"This makes me really excited and shows me that we can pull off wins against some of these other teams as well," she said.

SOUTH 1, THUNDER BASIN 0

Halftime: 1-0.

Goal: South, E. Cortez (G. Cortez), 8.

Shots: Thunder Basin 19, South 4. Shots on goal: Thunder Basin 14, South 3. Saves: South 14 (G. Cortez); Thunder Basin 3 (Shirley).

Corner kicks: Thunder Basin 12, South 1. Offsides: Thunder Basin 2, South 0. Fouls: Thunder Basin 2, South 5.

Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on X at @jjohnke.