Region 9 girls soccer recap: Canyon View outlasts Desert Hills in double OT

Written by Jeff Richards
September 12, 2020
Brylee Bergener of Canyon View battles Sienna Gargano of Desert Hills, Desert Hills at Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 10, 2020 | Photo courtesy of JR Robinson, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — The region-leading Desert Hills girls soccer team lost its first region game of the season at the hands of Canyon View Thursday afternoon, with the Falcons prevailing in double overtime. Canyon View joined Crimson Cliffs in winning both of their matches this week, with both teams moving into a tie for second place in the Region 9 standings. The following are recaps of this week’s girls soccer games:

Thursday’s games

Canyon View 1, Desert Hills 0 (2OT)

In a hard-fought, defensive battle at Canyon View, the Falcons battled the Thunder for almost 98 scoreless minutes before Brylee Bergener took an assist from Addison Newman and scored the game-winning goal with just over two minutes left in the second overtime.

“It was a tight, hard-fought game, as evident by the double overtime,” Canyon View head coach Steven Newman told St. George News. “Either team could have won.”

“It was a huge win for us,” he said, adding that it marked the first time Canyon View had beaten Desert Hills in at least a decade.

Goalkeeper Aspen Bergener of Canyon View earned the shutout in the Falcons’ 1-0 win over Desert Hills, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 10, 2020 | Photo courtesy of JR Robinson, St. George News / Cedar City News

“Desert Hills is a team that is very intimidating to us. I believe the only time CVHS beat them was the first year that Desert Hills opened.”

Newman had praise for Desert Hills coach Benji Nelson and his players.

“Desert Hills is such a solid program,” Newman said. “They have been for years. Benji does such a great job with that program. He has built a powerhouse.”

Newman said Nelson was gracious in defeat as he and his players left the field Thursday afternoon.

“He wasn’t super happy, but he was very classy. It’s always hard for the St. George teams to lose to a Cedar City team.”

Brylee Bergener’s sister Aspen Bergener earned the shutout at goalkeeper for the Falcons, who improved to 4-3 in region play as the Thunder dropped to 6-1 with their first loss.

“Our girls played so well together,” Newman added. “They played as a team and fought hard for each other. No one person stood out. Everyone contributed.”

Cedar 3, Snow Canyon 1

At Cedar City, Logann Laws scored once in each half as the Reds defeated Snow Canyon 3-1. Emily Schuh also scored for Cedar in the first half as the Reds led 2-0 at halftime. In the second half, Snow Canyon narrowed the gap to one when Jadyn Reber scored off a corner kick by Taylan Whitehead to make it 2-1. However, Laws was able to ice the game with a direct kick from about 30 yards out.

Crimson Cliffs 6, Dixie 0

At Dixie, Crimson Cliffs had five different players score as the Mustangs shut out the Flyers.

Crimson Cliffs head coach Andy Yergensen said the final score of 6-0 doesn’t reflect how close the game really was.

“Dixie came out and controlled the first 15 minutes of the game,” he said. “We struggled to get opportunities, while Dixie looked dangerous in the attack.”

“We settled down and started to win the 50-50 balls about halfway through the second half,” Yergensen said.

Crimson Cliffs at Dixie, St. George, Utah, Sept. 10, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

Freshman Kenadee Richey put the Mustangs on the board when she got her knee on a corner kick from teammate Emily Gibb and put it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

“She is usually our first sub off the bench and she always gives 110%,” Yergensen said of Richey.

Then, about five minutes later, Kate Young made an unassisted kick into the upper right corner of the net and the Mustangs took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

“Dixie was dangerous in the attack and we got lucky a few times to keep it out of the net in the first 40 minutes,” Yergensen said, adding that Dixie’s defense was still holding tough at that point.

“It didn’t seem like we were able to create any real scoring opportunities, despite keeping the ball in Dixie’s half,” he said. “So I changed up our formation a little in the second half to put more pressure on Dixie’s defense. That seemed to release my forwards a little bit.”

Jantzyn Losee scored Crimson’s third and fourth goals, assisted by Gibb and Ally Matheson, respectively.

About halfway through the second half, Allie Blanchard headed in a corner kick from Gibb to make it 5-0. Then, about 10 minutes later, the Mustangs got their final goal on a kick by Ashley Cuevas, assisted by a cross from Sidney Hansen.

“The second half we seemed to find our rhythm and possibly wore down the Dixie defense,” Yergensen said as he praised the efforts of his own defensive players, including Kamryn Brown and Emily Plewe, along with goalkeeper Ellie Nielsen, in posting the shutout.

Pine View 2, Hurricane 0

At Pine View, the Panthers got a first-half goal by senior Mairen Maclellan, who took a ball that had been headed by teammate Kaitlyn Leavitt and kicked it into the lower right corner of the net, past Hurricane goalkeeper Jazz Shannon. Pine View scored once more in the second half, with Brynlee Johnson kicking in the goal, assisted by Leavitt.

Tuesday’s games

Snow Canyon 2, Pine View 1 (OT)

Pine View at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Sept. 8, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

At Snow Canyon, the Pine View Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the first half, but the Warriors evened up the score in the second half thanks to a goal by Tessa Thornton. Then, about five minutes into overtime, Snow Canyon freshman Lilly Wittwer scored the golden goal when she finished on a deflected shot from senior Alivia Kunde.

Desert Hills 2, Cedar 0

At Desert Hills, the Thunder got second-half goals from both Jaynee Hinton and Lulu Harris as Desert Hills defeated Cedar 2-0. Mikenna DeCastro earned the shutout at goalkeeper.

Crimson Cliffs 2, Hurricane 1

At Crimson Cliffs, the Mustangs got one goal apiece from Grace Wade and Jantzyn Losee as they defeated the Hurricane Tigers 2-1.

Canyon View 4, Dixie 2

At Dixie, the Canyon View Falcons scored three goals in the first half, then hung on to defeat the Flyers. Addison Newman scored twice for the Falcons, while Brylee Bergener and Maizee Hallows each added one goal. Both of Dixie’s goals were scored by Kimberly Morales.

Next week’s games

Next week’s Region 9 schedule is as follows: on Tuesday, Canyon View is at Snow Canyon, Cedar is at Pine View, Crimson Cliffs is at Desert Hills and Hurricane is at Dixie, with all four varsity games scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Then, on Thursday, Canyon View plays at Cedar at 4 p.m., while the other three games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m., with Desert Hills hosting Hurricane, Crimson Cliffs hosting Snow Canyon and Dixie hosting Pine View.

Region 9 girls soccer standings (as of Sept. 12)

  1. Desert Hills 6-1 (6-2)
  2. (tie) Canyon View 4-3 (6-3)
  3. (tie) Cedar 4-3 (5-4)
  4. (tie) Crimson Cliffs 4-3 (5-4)
  5. (tie) Pine View 3-4 (5-4)
  6. (tie) Snow Canyon 3-4 (5-5)
  7. (tie) Hurricane 2-5 (2-7)
  8. (tie) Dixie 2-5 (2-8)

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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