Soccer team ready to take next step

It’s been three years since soccer was reinstated as a sport at Custer High School. Last season the Wildcats took the next step in the progression of the program, getting back in the win column and qualifying for the playoffs.
This year, the team hopes for even more.
Eighteen Wildcats took to the pitch when practice began last week, and a strong mix of young newcomers and established veterans has head coach Hannah Rehmeier excited for this fall’s season, which officially begins this Friday evening when Rapid City Christian comes to town for a 5 p.m. match.
“I’m hoping we can go further in the playoffs this year,” she said. “Until we get some games under our belt that’s a tough question to answer (what the team has to do to improve upon last year’s finish). A lot will come back to possession and physicality.”
The team lost to graduation its best player in Bohdan Pesicka, but has a group of returners ready to step in and move the Wildcats forward.
Among those is Pesicka’s sister, Kiran Pesicka, a sophomore who Rehmeier said will be a large presence in the middle and hopefully pick up where her brother left off.
“She will fill those gaps. She is physical and unafraid,” Rehmeier said.
Also returning is junior goalkeeper Kendall Reynolds, as well as junior forward Alexander Dinius, sophomore forward Koleden Niemann, and freshman defender Sylar Dinius. Rehmeier said players such as sophomores Bret Zapp and Brandon Sueflow, senior Dylan Frank and junior Bryce Swanson are also players who will contribute right away.
Rehmeier said number is a weakness for the Wildcats, as is a general lack of size. While it is imperative to get the younger players some experience, that may be dictated by the game and team the Wildcats are playing.
Rehmeier does expect the team to work more collaboratively this year and move the ball around more.
“At times we played a little selfishly here and there (last year),” she said. “There will be less of that this year.”
Rehmeier said the team will try to build more from the back this year and create worthwhile opportunities rather than launching long balls and hoping to win them, which the team fell into more often than she would have liked a year ago.
Rehmeier expects Sioux Falls Christian and Vermillion to be strong teams  this year, and locally, St. Thomas More should be a strong squad. She hopes her team, coming off a 3-6-3 season, will improve and be in the mix as the season progresses.
“Things feel very promising. We know a lot more of what to expect,” she said. “We’ll continue to take a step forward.”

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