Region 9 soccer: Tigers in, Thunder out of playoffs as regular season concludes

ST. GEORGE — The Hurricane Tigers got their biggest win in three years Friday night to capture the fourth and final playoff spot from Region 9, while Snow Canyon clinched a tie for second with Pine View and Desert Hills captured a win in their season-ending contest. Here’s a recap of the action:

Hurricane 2, Pine View 0

The Tigers scored two early goals and then survived the Panthers and a raucous rainstorm to get their biggest victory since 2012’s run into the state quarterfinals.

hurricane-smPine-view-smJust five minutes into the match, Max Guterez put Hurricane on top with a head strike from in front off a cross from Kyson Spendlove. With about 28 minutes left in the first half, speedy Noah Elison beat his man off a corner kick from Jaden Stone and scored to make it 2-0.

That’s all Kaden Jackson would need. The senior HHS keeper was a stone wall, turning away all of Pine View’s efforts in the game. A long lightning delay split the up and rain created a soggy surface at Tigers Stadium. Jackson, who was a freshman on that 2012 playoff team, recorded his 15th career shutout Friday night and the sixth of the 2015 season.

With this win and Hurricane’s 2-1 victory over Desert Hills Tuesday night, the Tigers will head to the playoffs as the fourth seed. Hurricane will travel to perennial region 10 powerhouse Juan Diego for Thursday’s first round of the 3A State Tournament. The Soaring Eagle, who won Region 10 with a 7-0-1 record, is 11-2-1 overall.

Pine View, 9-7-1 and 8-4-0, will go into state as the No. 2 seed and will host a home playoff game vs. Park City at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Snow Canyon 4, Canyon View 0 (Thursday)

The Warriors sprinted out to a three-goal lead in the first half. Axel Nino struck first and Casey Monson followed to make it 2-0.

snow-canyon-smcanyon-view-smJoaquin Flores buried a penalty kick for the 3-0 lead before intermission. Angel Muniz, one of the top scorers in the state, notched a goal in the second half. Muniz now has 12 goals on the season. Braydon Brough recorded the clean sheet in goal for SC.

With the win and Friday’s loss by Pine View, the two teams are in a dead-tie for second place in Region 9. However, Pine View’s split with region champ Dixie breaks the tie and the Panthers will get the No. 2 seed.

The Warriors will travel to Uintah for the first round of the playoffs. The Utes, 10-6-1, were second in Region 10.

Desert Hills 2, Cedar 1

Kanon Heaton and Kelton Holt each scored for the Thunder in the first half. A second-half goal by Cedar’s Matt Allen wasn’t enough to avert the loss for CHS, which finishes the season with a 2-13-1 record (1-11-0 in region).

Desert-Hills-smcedar-smThe Thunder needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive and responded to the pressure in the afternoon game in Cedar City. However, Hurricane’s Friday night win over Pine View shuts Desert Hills out of the playoffs. The Thunder, who finish the season with a 9-8-0 record (6-6-0 in region), end region play with 18 points, one shy of the Tigers’ total.

Final Region 9 Standings
DX   10-1-1  —  31 pts
PV   8-4-0  —  24 pts
SC   8-4-0  —  24 pts
HU   6-5-1  —  19 pts
DH   6-6-0  —  18 pts
CV   2-9-0  —  6 pts
CD   1-11-0  —  3 pts

Thursday’s 3A First Round games:
Union at Dixie
Park City at Pine View
Snow Canyon at Uintah
Hurricane at Juan Diego

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

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