Soccer team looks for improvement

Custer High School soccer is in year two of its reboot after a multiple-year absence, and this year’s iteration sees the vast majority of last year’s squad that took its lumps in year one of the reboot ready to take the pitch.
Leading the team will be a new year coach, Hanna Rehmeier, a Belle Fourche native and Black Hills State University graduate who played soccer throughout high school and considered playing in college before instead focusing on her major, musical education.
There are 16 players on this year’s squad, and Rehmeier said she expects improvement this year, as some of the players are playing soccer year-round to hone their craft.
“We are working on conditioning, ball-handling, really good ball movement and possessions,” Rehmeier said. “We’re focusing more on that than  last year. Hopefully that will work out well for us.”
Rehmeier said the first couple of weeks of practice have gone well, and a lot of the early season has been spent getting into shape for a soccer match.
While the team is still relatively young, it returns a wealth of experience, including key players from last year such as sophomore goalkeeper Kendall Reynolds, sophomore Zander Dinius, senior Bohdan Pesicka, freshman Kiran Pesicka, freshman Brandon Suelflow, junior Dylan Frank and freshman Koleden Niemann.
“Kendall does a really good job at keeper. He is very aware of the field and distributing the ball and is a good leader back there,” Rehmeier said. “Kiran will be strong for us as a defender. She will be a good leader back there and she is really fast.
“Bohdan will be a really good asset. He can really move and distribute the ball well and will create a lot of scoring opportunities.”
Ideally, Rehmeier said, she would like to see the team build out of the back and work possessions carefully, working the ball up the field and dropping it back if there isn’t a clear opportunity to move the ball up the field.
“A lot of high school teams get in the groove of sending a long ball and everybody runs and it’s ‘we’re going to win it out of the air,’” she said. “We’ve been working hard on possession and maintaining good possession throughout and sending good passes instead of just long balls and things like that.”
The Wildcats didn’t win a game last year, and while Rehmeier hopes and expects that to change this year, she also realizes the program is still building. Ultimately, she said, she would like to see the program have both a junior varsity and varsity.
The Wildcats began their season earlier this week, and Rehmeier said she has received positive feedback from both players and parents, and is enjoying being a coach, which has been a dream of hers.
“I think everybody is really excited and we have a good team bond going,” she said. “I’m excited to see where everything goes.”