Morgan 3, Canyon View 0
It’s been a few years since Morgan girls soccer has been in the 3A championship game where it was a mainstay for later part of last decade.
Less than a minute into a semifinal matchup against No. 1 Canyon View, the Trojans made it clear they were done being denied.
Lacie Poll scored her 28th goal of the season and assisted on another as No. 4 Morgan convincingly took down the Falcons in a 3-0 shutout, punching its ticket to the 3A state championship game for the first time since 2020.
The Trojans did a whole lot more than just get the early jump on Canyon View. All of Morgan’s goals came in the first 15 minutes of the match, giving the Trojans the ability to cruise to the finish and mostly play keep-away in the second half. Morgan head coach Bryan attributed Morgan’s early success to its ability to generate immense pressure on the Falcons’ defensive unit, which had entered the matchup with 11 shutouts on the season, including both of their previous playoff appearances.
“Pressure, the constant pressure, going after the ball, winning the 50-50s,” Searle said. “I think that’s really what set up most of those goals.”
The Trojans hardly relaxed after their early lead. Their ability to carve through Canyon View’s vaunted defense became more and more apparent throughout. Upon earning a corner kick in the 10th minute, Poll delivered a solid ball to the middle for Ashlyn Noss to deliver an impressive header just over the goal line for a 2-0 lead.
As icing on the cake, Morgan got awarded a penalty kick in the 25th minute, and Macie Burton delivered an easy strike to all but decide the game in favor of the Trojans before even getting to halftime.
With multiple former players in the stands on the north side of Zions Bank Stadium where Morgan’s supporters sat, the Trojans responded aggressively to the pressure to end their team’s short hiatus from their dynastic run that saw three championships won between 2017 and 2020.
“Every practice, they look at our banners and see those three championships,” Morgan coach Bryan Searle said. “They want another one. It’s been a while since we had it. It’ motivation for them…It’s just the way the program is.”
The Trojans will get that chance when the play for a fourth title on Saturday at America First Field.
Ogden 9, Juan Diego 1
Like a broken record, the Ogden Tigers are once again going to play for a state championship, and this time, they have about nine extra minutes to rest up for it.
No. 2 Ogden thoroughly outplayed No. 6 Juan Diego, racing out to a 4-0 halftime lead and cruising to a 9-1 victory in the 3A semifinal. Owing to the UHSAA’s mercy rule, which ends games after 50 minutes with an eight-goal lead, Tigers forward Nevaeh Peregrina, the 2022 Ms. Soccer recipient, punched in the game-ending goal with just over nine minutes remaining to send the Soaring Eagle home early, completing the first mercy-rule finish in a state semifinal match in any classification since 2021.
Peregrina, Ruth Larsen and Megan Beus each had a brace, and in total, six different Ogden players found the back of the net in the game.
The win punched Ogden’s ticket to the 3A state championship and the fifth straight trip to a title game going back to 2019.
Since moving to 3A in 2021, the Tigers are 1-1 in championship matches, as last season’s matchup narrowly went the way of now-6A Salt Lake Academy after multiple Ogden players, including Peregrina, were taken out of the game by hypothermia due to an unexpected snowstorm mid-game.
“It’s all we’ve been able to talk about,” Peregrina said. “This is like our revenge tour. This is what we want. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
Peregrina finally got a goal in the second half in the 53rd minute, not long before ending the match with her second as the Tigers offensive front thoroughly overwhelmed Juan Diego from about the 10th minute onward. She also had two assists.
“Seeing those first three goals go in, it was just such a great feeling putting them in the back of the net,” Peregrina said. “After every single one, we just said, ‘Let’s keep going.’”
Larsen put in the first goal for Ogden at the 12th minute, and after a fairly even first 10 minutes, Ogden promptly dissected the Juan Diego defense perfectly enough to go on a scoring rampage, scoring twice more in the next five minutes off the feet of Maya Robinson and Beus.
Prior to tonight, Beus had just three goals all season.
Larsen’s second goal came in the 32nd minute to make it 4-0 at halftime. By the game’s end, Larsen only had the two goals, but she had numerous other shots on goal just barely saved or off the post as she stayed in the game all the way to the end.
After Ogden put in its fifth goal early in the second half on an unassisted shot by Kate Pulley in the 43rd minute, Juan Diego did its part to avoid the shutout as Kate Digiandomenico found the back of the net herself for the Soaring Eagle less than 30 seconds later.
The Tigers’ trip to this season’s championship secures an all-Region 13 showing in the state title game as Ogden will face No. 4 Morgan in the Saturday’s final match. It also offers a rematch of the 2021 3A state title game. The Tigers beat Morgan, 1-0, that year with Peregrina scoring the lone goal.