Playoff soccer: Bennett’s golden goal lifts Flyers to championship game

SANDY — Tyler Bennett came up huge when Dixie needed his help to get into the 3A state basketball championship game earlier this year. Well, the kid is clutch in soccer too, as he lifted the Flyers with a golden goal in overtime to knock off Juan Diego 2-1 and help his team advance to 3A State Championship Saturday against familiar nemesis Pine View.

dixie-smjuan-diego-sm“I mean, he is a stud,” Flyer head coach Burt Myers said.  “He was on the state (finalist) basketball team and was the hero there and now he is a hero for us. Tyler Bennett finishes things.”

The Dixie Flyers could find no separation after 80 minutes against a gritty Soaring Eagle team. Finally, six minutes into the OT, Dixie won a corner and ended up setting things up for Bennett. Teammate Kasey Black was on the receiving end of a deflection off the corner kick and bumped it to Bennett for the game-winner (86’).

Tyler Bennett
Tyler Bennett

“We felt like we were starting to overpower them at the end of regulation so we called a power corner,” Myers said. “And the guy that made the winning assist was making the wrong run and we were all screaming at him. Someone ran in there and told Black and he got to the right spot. It ended up that no one guarded him and nobody picked him up as he went. Black went in there and settled the ball and chipped it in there and Tyler got in on the end of it.”

Black said he just ended up in the right place at the right time.

“I was just in the middle of the field,” Black said. “And I just circled around all the players and the ball just came and someone headed it right to me and I just chipped it into Tyler. I was just freaking out when we scored that. I was so surprised and so happy that we won”

The Flyers and Soaring Eagle were deadlocked for all but five minutes of the game Friday. Late into the first half, Dixie finally put the first goal on the board as sharpshooter Francisco Guzman juked, then lasered a shot past the keeper in the bottom right corner (32’).

Dixie's Francisco Guzman (7), file photo from Dixie vs. Union, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Apr. 30, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie’s Francisco Guzman (7), file photo from Dixie vs. Union, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Apr. 30, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“Francisco was over there and he can create,” Myers said. “He did a couple of nifty moves and everybody froze and they thought he was going to make another move and he just shot a rifle shot and the goalie couldn’t jump on it because it was too late to make a move.”

Less than five minutes later Juan Diego’s Brandon Sands took advantage of a free kick and rocketed a shot over the wall and past the keeper in the top left corner.

Today at 1:30 p.m., Dixie will square off in a rematch of this year’s basketball championship against crosstown rival Pine View at Rio Tinto Stadium. Pine View won the basketball championship 46-43 earlier this year. Bennett, who was an integral part of Dixie’s team that fell to Pine View in basketball, will have a chance with his soccer teammates at redemption with a 3A soccer title on the line.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

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

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