We knew it was a matter of time. There was no way (Woods Cross') defense was going to keep us out of the goal today. – Brett Rosen
WOODS CROSS — First-year Brighton head coach Brett Rosen knew a goal was coming. The Bengals had been on the attack for much of the second half against Woods Cross in its first-round playoff match, and needed a breakthrough.
“We knew it was a matter of time. There was no way (Woods Cross') defense was going to keep us out of the goal today,” Rosen said.
In the 66th minute, the Bengals broke through. Freshman Sage Stott dribbled down the left side of the field, found an opening, and slotted it into the net to score the first goal of the match and give the Bengals the momentum. The Bengals would go on to win, 2-1.
“Sage, as a freshman playing varsity, she’s kind of had to find herself. Throughout the season, she kept playing, and the belief was there, and you could see it in the goal she got. Even in the opportunities she had that didn’t go her way, she was in the right spot and, she had the belief and the confidence to finish it,” Rosen said.
Minutes later, Brighton scored again to go up 2-0 on a beautiful, bending kick from Hanna Olsen that curled into the left side of the net.
“Hanna is always a solid player. You can always count on her to be there when you need her,” Rosen said.
Woods Cross didn’t go down without a fight, though. With just six minutes remaining in the match, after a ball loose in the box, Katie Longmore was the one to tap it in, giving Woods Cross new life, but Rosen wasn’t nervous.
“I wasn’t nervous at all. We’ve been in a lot of close games this year, three overtime games, and we beat Timpview at the last second, so we’ve been in these games before. They (Woods Cross) were going to do anything it took to pull that out,” Rosen said.
With six minutes left to tie the match, the Wildcats threw everything they had at the Bengals’ defense, nearly scoring a couple times, but couldn’t come up with the goal needed to even the contest.
Coming into the match, Brighton’s game plan was to “use the space Woods Cross gives."
“Woods Cross is a very disciplined team. You can tell that they respect their coach and do what their coach wants. We play a very possession oriented game, and it fit our style. We knew that we could exploit that a little bit. It took us a while, but we got there,” Rosen said.
After having their season cut short by losing in the first round during their last two campaigns, the Bengals are excited to be moving on.
“Outstanding. It was a team effort; we had a freshman score, and we had a senior score. It took the whole team, it took the preparation, it took their belief. We’ve been knocked out before in the first game two years in a row, and we really wanted to change that this year. We came in with the belief that we could, and we did it,” Rosen said.