The boys and girls soccer teams clashed with their cross-town rivals, Central High School, on Friday, April 10, at Riske Field. It was a tough battle for the boys in their win over the Indians, scoring their only goal in overtime and winning 1-0. Senior Finley McIlwaine scored the goal for East, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

“The energy had been building the whole game, and we were getting some good chances,” McIlwaine said in an interview with wyosports.net. “We just had to keep at it and keep playing hard. We couldn’t get down on ourselves. We just had to keep going and get more chances. I got my chance and it felt like a perfect touch and it went in.”

The competition was tough on both ends, East got 20 shots and eight on goal,  and Central got 17 shots with six on goal.

Cheyenne East boys are ranked third in the state and Central is ranked fourth.

The East girls soccer team was not as fortunate against the Lady Indians, suffering a 2-1 loss. East Coach Jim Gardener saw it as a lack of aggression.

“We changed things up at the half so we could get more of an attack,” Gardener said in an interview with wyosports.net. “We got more of an attack but, clearly, it wasn’t anything dangerous. We weren’t as physical as we usually are. We were really shy and weren’t running through balls, we didn’t win balls out of the air, we were scared to get hit. Those things come with experience.”

Cheyenne East girls are ranked fifth in the state and Cheyenne Central is ranked third.

Next on the schedule, the East boys and girls will face Gillette on Friday, April 17, and Sheridan on Saturday, April 18, with the boys travelling north and the girls hosting here at Okie Blanchard.