Here’s a recap of Monday’s 4A semifinal games. This story will be updated with results of the second semifinal game between Desert Hills and Snow Canyon later tonight.
Ridgeline 5, Park City 3
There was a whole lot of attacking joy going on during Monday’s 4A semifinal on the brand new turf at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
Top seed Ridgeline and No. 5 Park City both love to build with possession, and the pristine turf installed in August allowed both to play their brand of attractive attacking soccer to the tune of eight combined goals— the most goals in a 4A semifinal since 2017.
Buoyed by eight magical minutes in the first half and its hat trick hero Lily Hunsaker, Ridgeline is one victory away from its first state championship since 2020.
After falling behind to Park City in the first half, the Riverhawks banged in three goals during an eight minute stretch before halftime and added two more in the second half as they survived the wildly entertaining semifinal, 5-3.
“Walking into the stadium and seeing how beautiful it was, the girls mentally were like, ‘Yes, we are going to play such a beautiful game here.’ That was their words coming in. They knew that we were going to ball out with how beautiful this pitch is,” said Ridgeline coach Richard Alexander, whose team improved 17-3 on the season with the win.
Ridgeline will meet the winner of tonight’s other 4A semifinal between Desert Hills and Snow Canyon being played at Utah Tech.
“It’s obviously something that every team puts on their checklist at the very beginning of the season, but it’s not something that comes true for every single team in the season,” added Alexander. “So for these girls to make it there, it means everything to them.”
For the Riverhawks, getting to Friday’s final was all about their reaction. Park City went ahead first in the 25th minute on a fantastic curling left-footed finish outside the box from Ohio State commit Elsa Dellenbach.
Top seed Ridgeline had only been shutout once all season heading into Monday’s semifinals, so there was never a doubt among the players that an equalizer would come.
Much more than equalizer came, as Ridgeline scored goals in the 29th, 35th and 37th minutes to build a 3-1 lead by the half.
“They’re showing that it doesn’t matter if you get scored on 1-0, the game’s so long, just continue to believe and continue to trust each other and play our style and don’t panic, and goals will come, and they believed it, and they put it out there today,” said Alexander.
The initial equalizer came through Hunsaker, with the junior matching Dellenbach’s left-footed shot from distance with a lefty strike of her own from 24 yards out.
With Ridgeline’s quality on the ball, the chances kept coming. Kemrie Grange tapped in a close-range shot in the 36th minute following a heavy touch in the box from a Park City defender.
Two minutes later, Hunsaker bagged her brace as her back-flick header on a long-range free kick from Sam Brown slipped just past Park City’s diving keeper and inside the post for the 3-1 lead.
Early in the second half, Ila Webb got in on the scoring knocking in a cross from Sierra Dean, as Ridgeline jumped ahead 4-1 as it looked like the rout was on.
Ridgeline keeper Molly Mann kept the scoreline at 4-1 with two outstanding saves during an exciting stretch of chances for Park City between the 49th and 55th minutes.
The Miners eventually did break through, twice in fact during a 90-second stretch
Dellenbach and Dyllann Reed scored back-to-back goals in the 63rd and 64th minute to cut the deficit to 4-3 and set up a possible thrilling finish.
Hunsaker spoiled that thought quickly though, with a quality finish in the box a minute later to push the lead back to 5-3.
“The ball was a magnet to her feet, and she was so confident. She’s not afraid to lay the ball to her teammate, but she’s also not afraid to create for herself and lay those balls in the net. She’s done that all season for us, and so that’s what we love about her playing up at that nine, is she’s so smart, she’s so calm and cool, and we know that when we need something big that she’s gonna deliver,” said Alexander.
Fresh off her hat trick, Hunsaker said it’s going to take a “lights out” performance to win the championship on Friday, but she has full confidence in her team.“It’s super exciting, this team should go all the way. We deserve it,” said Hunsaker.
Snow Canyon 0, Desert Hills 0 (Snow Canyon wins 5-3 on penalties)
In a semifinal matchup that featured two Region 9 foes that split the regular season series, it was only fitting that the 4A semifinal went the distance.
Ultimately, following a defensive battle, Snow Canyon got the job done in a penalty kick shootout over Desert Hills to clinch a spot in the state championship match.
The first half featured a stalwart defensive performance from both teams, as neither was able to gain an edge or create much in the way of chances.
While the Warriors controlled the majority of possession and recorded a handful of shots, none of them threatened to find the back of the net against Desert Hills goalkeeper Tess Peterson.
The second half saw a more even battle in possession, as the Thunder created their first chances of the match.
Despite a more equal performance from the two sides, the match remained scoreless. A few shots found the target from each team, but none were close to crossing the goal line to take the lead.
With the game deadlocked, the match headed to overtime, where the first goal scored would seal a trip to the state title game.
But like much of regulation, both overtime periods saw a few chances but no clear goal-scoring threat.
“Just a lot of intensity, right?” Warriors head coach Connor Brown said of regulation and overtime. When you get this late in the season, anybody can win at any time, and so you’ve got to be careful and play smart. We tried to stay within our element.
“I felt like we had patches, especially in the first half, a little bit in the second half, where we were able to control the ball, tilt the field and play in their half and get shots and create chances, but again, they defended with everything they had, and they’re so well-coached, they’re well-organized. I admire (coach) Whitley (Bowler) so much for the jobs she’s done this year. Made it just hard to get through, to make anything happen, and created a few chances of their own, and so to get through scoreless was frustrating, but also in a semifinal, you’ve got to do what you can to win.”
After 20 minutes of extra time, the game headed to penalties. The Warriors took the first shot, which was buried in the top left corner by Veronica Weston.
Desert Hills then took its first penalty, which Kamri Yergensen slotted home to even the shootout at 1-1.
Scarlett Losse then stepped up for Snow Canyon and found the back of the net after the ball hit the underside of the crossbar and crossed over the goal line.
Izzy Miller was next for the Thunder, but her shot skied over the bar for the first miss. Both teams converted two more penalties, making it a 4-3 score in the shootout in favor of the Warriors.
With their fifth kick coming up, Kenzlie Stuart stepped to the spot. Stuart smashed it into the upper right corner for the winning kick, sealing the 5-3 shootout win and the Warriors’ spot in the state championship match against Ridgeline.
“Because we’re teams that play together in region, we’re familiar with each others’ keepers and penalty takers, so there were some conversations about changing direction for some of the players to take their penalty a different way. We just told them in the end, we trust you,” Brown said.
“We’ve been here before. Rely on your preparation and your experience in this situation and go put the ball in the net. We reminded them to keep it low. We thought the keeper was going to struggle to get down, and that proved true for a few of them, and then we did our job, we made all five of ours, and they had their one miss.”
As the Warriors now prepare to face Ridgeline, Brown lauded the resilience of the group.
“For this senior group, over the last four years, they have never lost in overtime. This makes nine overtimes and not one loss. Every time we go to overtime or penalties, we win,” he said.
So, the mentality of this group, just to stay composed, to rely on their preparation, on their experience, to have the confidence in the big moment, in a big game under the lights, and to do what they practice is incredible. It’s who they are.”