JACKSON — The road to the state tournament begins Thursday as Green River and Rock Springs head to Jackson for the 4A West Regional Soccer Tournament, where every match tomorrow could be their last of the season.
In 4A Wyoming high school soccer, teams must win their opening regional match to qualify for the state tournament unless they are the No. 1 seed and receive a first-round bye. For everyone else, it is simple: win and advance, lose and the season ends.
That setup creates one of the biggest storylines of the opening day, as the Green River and Rock Springs girls teams will meet in a rivalry elimination game at 3 p.m. Thursday on the South Synthetic Field.
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The Lady Wolves enter as the No. 3 seed in the West, while the Lady Tigers are the No. 6 seed. One Sweetwater County team is guaranteed to advance to state and Friday’s semifinals and punch their ticket to state, but the other will see their season come to an end.
The winner advances to the semifinals Friday at 9 a.m. at Jackson Hole High School’s Stadium and will face the winner of the Kelly Walsh matchup against either Star Valley or Evanston. Star Valley and Evanston were playing in a regional play-in match Wednesday, with the result still pending at the time of publication.
On the boys side, Green River and Rock Springs will also face high-stakes opening-round contests Thursday at Jackson Hole High School Stadium.
The No. 3-seeded Wolves open the day at 1 p.m. against No. 6 Natrona County. Later, No. 5 Rock Springs takes on No. 4 Riverton at 5 p.m.
The winner of the Green River-Natrona County match advances to Friday’s 11 a.m. semifinal against the winner of Kelly Walsh and the Star Valley-Evanston play-in winner.
If Rock Springs advances, the Tigers would face top-seeded Jackson on Friday at 3 p.m. on Jackson’s home field.
Green River enters the postseason after finishing the regular season 8-5-1 on the boys’ side and 7-4-3 for the girls. Rock Springs finished 4A West play as the No. 5 boys seed and No. 6 girls seed after a late push during the final week of the season, with a 4-9-1 boys record and a 3-8-3 girls record.
Thursday’s schedule sets up a full day of postseason soccer with state tournament spots immediately on the line for every Sweetwater County team.
