Crimson Cliffs falls at home in heartbreaker; Desert Hills, Cedar advance with shutout wins – St George News

ST. GEORGE — The 4A girls state soccer tournament kicked off on Wednesday afternoon as many high schools entered fall break on the same day the playoffs began.

Under a hot (if you’re from the Cache Valley) sun in Washington Fields, the visiting Logan Grizzlies clawed out a 1-nil shocker over Crimson Cliffs.

Meanwhile, both Desert Hills and Cedar won convincingly at home. They join Snow Canyon, which had a first-round bye, as the three Region 10 teams remaining in the 4A playoffs. Cedar and Snow Canyon will face each other on Saturday afternoon, while Desert Hills will head up north to face No. 4 seed Green Canyon.

Following are brief recaps and scores from Wednesday’s playoff games.

Logan 1, Crimson Cliffs 0

Appropriate for a game between the No. 9 and No. 8 seeds (respectively), the contest between Region 11’s Logan and Region 10’s Crimson Cliffs was a classic one-goal soccer match that had few scoring opportunities, a couple of near misses and one very dramatic moment.

Logan’s Mia Lopez collected the ball about 10 feet outside of the box, charged hard to her left to create space, and lofted a perfectly placed shot just beyond the outstretched fingertips of Crimson keeper Kenadee Richey for the stunning victory as time expired .

“I call it Mia Magic. She pulled though for us again today just as she has so many times before,” Logan coach Natalie Norris told St. George News. “She’s just an all around great player and I’m thrilled to have her on my team.”

Bears defender Onyx Kennington was a rock on the backline for the visitors, keeping the middle of the field clear and forcing the speedy Crimson attackers to work outside.

“She always is so solid for us,” Norris said. “It was so good for us to get her back on the field. It just felt natural to her there and she conducted my backline as normal and was solid.”

Logan goalkeeper Kryzlynn Uresk handled the limited shots that got through the wall in front of her to record the shutout.

“She came through on so many big plays. She finally got the shutout for us, for the team, for her,” Norris said. “And I was so happy with everything she did today.”

Logan next advances to play No. 1 Mountain Crest on Saturday.

“We have had just the worst luck this year,” Norris said. “To finally get something to go our way, it’s just so fun for the girls to get rewarded for the hard work that they keep putting in.”

Crimson Cliffs meanwhile ends the season with an overall record of 8-10. The very young Mustangs, who return almost all of their starting players next year, finished 7-5 in Region 10.

Desert Hills 3, Hurricane 0

The Thunder scored once in the first half and twice in the second half to dismiss the Tigers.

Ellie Hendrix netted two scores for Desert Hills while Dottie Bethers scored the third marker for the winners.

Keeper Aisey Gargano recorded the shutout in goal for the Thunder.

Collecting assists in the win were Kamri Yorgenson, Emery Simister and Reese Dalley.

No. 5 seeded Desert Hills (13-5) advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals and will play at No. 4 Green Canyon.

Cedar 4, Bear River 0

At Cedar, forward Rylan Tebbs scored two goals the Reds earned a shutout win over the Bear River Bears.

After Tebbs’ first goal early in the first half, which came off an an assist by Keanna Tolman, Tebbs kicked another

ball close to the net, which teammate Tylee Nielson knocked in to give the Reds a 2-0 advantage. Later in the first half, Tebbs scored on a breakaway after taking another pass from Tolman and kicking it past the goalie and into the lower left corner of the net.

The Reds went into halftime with a 3-0 lead, but that didn’t count two other apparent goals that were waved off by the officials, including one as time expired.

The only goal of the second half came when Tebbs attacked the right side of the net and kicked the ball hard in front of the box. The ball ended up going into the net off an opposing player. Tebbs wasn’t credited with the goal, although she was the last Cedar player to touch it before it went in.

Cedar goalkeeper Cambia Simper picked up the shutout. The win earns Cedar a date with region rival Snow Canyon in the 4A quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon. The two teams split their regular season meetings, with Cedar winning 4-3 at home on Sept. 1 and Snow Canyon winning 4-0 at home on Sept. 27.

— written by Jeff Richards

Sky View 5, Dixie 1

Dixie saw its season end on the road as No. 7 Sky View handled the Flyers at home.

Taryn Hafen scored for Dixie, while Amalia Fonua and Karlee Allen each scored twice for the winners.

Green Canyon 8, Pine View 0

Pine View’s season also ended on the road as No. 4 seed Green Canyon scored three markers in the first half and five in the second to dispatch the Panthers.

4A girls soccer quarterfinals, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m.

• No. 9 Logan at No. 1 Mountain Crest.
• No. 7 Sky View at No. 2 Ridgeline.
• No. 6 Cedar at No. 3 Snow Canyon.
• No. 5 Desert Hills at No. 4 Green Canyon.

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