Speed, skills make Alyssa Bedard best girls soccer player in Wyoming
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (BVM) — The best soccer players force opponents to keep track of where they are on the pitch at all times. Alyssa Bedard was that player for Rock Springs High School over the past three seasons.
“They changed their gameplan around her,” Rock Springs head coach Stephen Pyer said. “When we played the better teams, their game plan was ‘Don’t let Alyssa Bedard behind you. Don’t give her any room.’ At the state tournament last year, every single game they had a person man-mark her.”
And Bedard was far from an easy player to keep up with because she was faster than most. The University of Wyoming commit also excelled at indoor track, claiming seven state titles and setting seven school records over the course of her career. Her speed combined with exceptional soccer skills made her even more difficult for opposing teams to deal with.
“Not only is she faster than everybody, but then she can do soccer moves and high-level technical soccer moves at that speed and at that point it’s unstoppable,” Pyer said.
Bedard, a three-time all-conference and all-state selection, was named the Gatorade Wyoming Girls Soccer Player of the Year after a stellar high school career which was shortened like many others’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Rock Springs grad, who led the Tigers to third place in the Class 4A state tourney as a junior, still finished as the school’s all-time leader in goals (86) and assists (36) despite losing her senior season.
“The three years I did get to play, it was amazing,” Bedard said. “I loved every second of it, just being able to be around my coaches and teammates and our family that we built. It’s amazing looking back at everything we were able to accomplish and I’m glad I got that experience.”
As Bedard takes her talents to the NCAA Division I college level in Laramie, she’s ready to do whatever’s necessary to make an impact as a freshman.
“I’m just going to go in with an open mind and work as hard as I can and contribute in whatever they need me to,” Bedard said.
Pyer expects she’ll step in and make an immediate impact because of her speed and ability to play anywhere the Cowgirls will ask her to play on the pitch.
“I don’t know where they’re going to put her,” Pyer said, “but she’s one of those players who if you put her on the wing, she’ll play a wing, you put her up top, she’ll go score a goal, you put her on defense, she’ll play good defense. … There are other very good gifted athletes in the state, but the way she plays, she dominates. She’s just a game-changer.”