The Laramie Plainsmen fell just short of bringing home some hardware from the 2017 Wyoming State Soccer Championships.

After a disappointing loss in the first round, followed by a big consolation victory, Laramie lost their final match of the season to Natrona County, 2-1, in the 4A Boys Consolation Championship Saturday.

Laramie head coach Dan Benford felt they had energy, but were nervous.

“We were playing tight trying to win that game and try to save that tournament. We really weren’t able to finish the opportunities that we did have. Natrona was able to catch us on two counter-attacks, and that’s all it took.”

The Mustangs avenged a 3-2 regular season loss to the Plainsmen earlier in the season. N-C scored twice late in the first half and held off a rally by LHS.

Johann Reyes and Reegan Chadderdon scored in the 37th and 38th minute of action. That gave Natrona a 2-0 lead just before halftime. Blake Moore scored in the 61st minute off an assist by his younger brother Kyle Moore. Laramie couldn’t get the equalizer in the last 19 minutes of play.

The Plainsmen finish the season with a 13-5-1 overall record.

Benford said looking back we knew it would take a lot coming off last year and losing nine seniors, six of them starters.

“Having to replace that with some players that hadn’t played varsity before and had some limited time in varsity, I’d say we had a significantly successful season.”

Benford admitted he didn’t expect that type of record.

“These guys were able to put it together, not all the time, and that’s the thing we’re going to look to do next year is make sure we’re a lot more consistent. I was very happy with the way these boys played. The way that we came around, we only lose three seniors this year, so we’re gonna really look to reload and come back stronger next year.”

The 4A All-Conference and All-State honors will be announced later this week.

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