Mountain Crest 3, Green Canyon 0
Mountain Crest was victorious and advanced to the championship game after defeating Green Canyon 3-0 in the 4A semifinal match.
Mountain Crest put pressure on the Green Canyon defense the whole game. In the 18th minute the Mustang’s Addyson Sofonia was the first to strike and put her team up 1-0.
Sofonia found a chance again in the second half, this time with a beautiful cross pass to Faith Newman who redirected the ball into the goal.
While the Mustang offense was certainly playing well, it was the defense from Mountain Crest that really solidified this win.
“Shoutout to the defense for another shutout and a good team win,” said Mountain Crest coach Justin Beus.
As the game progressed tensions rose; it seemed there wasn’t an extended moment without a whistle.
But Mountain Crest kept it rolling, and Hadli Barrera outran the Green Canyon defense on a breakaway which caused a foul in the box and a penalty kick for the Mustangs.
It was Hadley Glenn who placed the ball in the back of the net for Mountain Crest, who then held a hefty 3-0 lead.
Thanks to continuous defensive effort from the Mustangs, Green Canyon never had a chance to come back in this one and Mountain Crest earned itself a chance to take home the trophy.
Snow Canyon 2, Sky View 1
Snow Canyon overcame multiple failed golden opportunities and completed a miraculous comeback in the final eight minutes to beat Sky View 2-1 and earned a chance against Mountain Crest in the 4A championship game.
Despite being down 1-0 for most of the game, Snow Canyon actually started the game with a very active offense. They were outrunning the defense, playing scrappy, but still came up short multiple times.
Even with the pressure it was Sky View who struck first and took a 1-0 lead.
After scoring Sky View kept at it and while they were unable to score again, they certainly pushed the Snow Canyon defense to its limit.
The bad luck seemed unavoidable for Snow Canyon who had to swallow losing two players to injury during this game.
Halftime came and went, and so did most of the second half and it seemed Sky View had this one wrapped up. Snow Canyon had opportunity after opportunity to even it up but kept falling short.
With eight minutes to go, Snow Canyon’s Ashlee Harris found herself in the right place at the right time. She tapped in a deflection off the Sky View goalkeeper to finally even things up 1-1.
“They stayed patient, that’s tough in a semifinal game where you feel that 0-1 deficit wearing on your mind for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30 minutes,” said Snow Canyon coach Connor Brown.
“Its easy to get impatient and what the girls did well was they continued to play our game, they continued to work, they continued to want it, and they trusted those opportunities would come and the girls took them.”
The Warriors finally were rewarded for their efforts, and they were hungry for more.
With two minutes left on the clock, Snow Canyon’s Madi Clegg placed a beautiful ball into the back of the net from 25 yards out.
The home crowd went crazy, but even in their excitement the girls of Snow Canyon knew the job wasn’t done.
Sky View fought its way back to the other side of the field and got a free kick with about 30 seconds left.
The shot was deflected by Warrior’s goalkeeper Tori Martin which secured the 2-1 victory and the chance to fight in the 4A championship game.