MANTI — The Morgan Trojans used their superior speed to control the tempo and help keeper Mo Freestone earn her sixth shutout of the year in their 6-0 victory over the Manti Templars in the opening round of the 3A girls soccer state tournament on Wednesday.
The Trojans kept the pressure on Manti's defense throughout the game, getting 29 shots on goal. It took a heroic effort by Templar Goalie Shauri Lyon and defenders Kim Wayman, Dachelle Black to keep the game from turning into a blowout.
Although outplayed by the Trojans, the Templars battled for the entire game.
"They worked hard and pushed the ball," said Morgan coach Tara Ferrin.
Defensively the Trojans keep the 3A third-leading scorer, Manti's Ali Rosquist from scoring mainly by keeping the ball on the Templar side of the field. Although the Templars looked like they might breakaway on occasion, the Trojans only allowed one shot by the Templars.
Chelsey Mortensen started things off for the Trojans with an early shot that found the left corner of the goal. Midway through the first half AJ Bateman added another goal for Morgan which led 2-0 at the half.
Coach Ferrin challenged her players to "be first to the ball" in the second half. "We were clogging up the middle in the first half," said Ferrin. "When we pushed the ball outside it opened things up for us."
That extra effort by her players paid off and led to better crossing passes that allowed four more Trojan to scores in the second half.
Mortensen headed a pass from Bateman that hit the top bar and then dropped into the goal. She then stayed with a loose ball and punched it across for her third goal. Becca Rees got a header goal and Danny Poll had a kick trickle across for the final score of the game.