Ellie Hendrix, Ruby Wright score their own kind of goals in Desert Hills vs. Pine View soccer match

Ellie Hendrix looks for cracks in the Pine View defense in a Region 10 soccer match, St. George, Utah, Aug. 25, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Every game has a story, and that story is always about people.

For two local high school soccer players Thursday night, the story was just as much about achieving goals as it was about scoring them.

Desert Hills went to Pine View and won convincingly, tallying five times and getting a shutout from goalkeeper Aisey Gargano.

The Thunder (5-2) are off to a booming start to the season, winning its first two Region 10 games by a combined score of 9-1 and rolling off five consecutive victories on the pitch.

Meanwhile, the young Panthers squad (1-5) is still seeking its first region win after three contests.

The result on the scoreboard will probably end up being meaningless over the course of the season. Yet for two of the opposing players, that moment and that game were all that mattered.

Not a peacock, but a haul

Ellie Hendrix knows that a hat-trick in soccer is when the same player scores three times in a match.

She wasn’t certain, but she and some of the Desert Hills coaches thought that when a player scores four goals in the same game it might be called a “peacock.”

Turns out, according to the Soccer Knowledge Hub, when the same player nets four scores in one game, it is known as a goal-scoring “haul.”

Ellie Hendrix looks for cracks in the Pine View defense in a Region 10 soccer match, St. George, Utah, Aug. 25, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Hendrix probably had to look that up too after completing her haul against Pine View, scoring the first four consecutive markers in the match.

But she didn’t want to talk about herself after the win.

“I think the whole team just came to play today,” Hendrix told St. George News. “We just worked really well together. I might have put the goals in but the whole team did it together.”

Hendrix is exceptionally quick, dancing around and over the soccer ball like a ballerina.

She uses her speed to get just a little bit of separation between her and her defender, creating all the room she needs to unleash the cannons that are her feet.

“That’s the way that I can get enough space to get the shot off or find one of my teammates,” Hendrix said. 

Hendrix took shot after shot against Pine View, hitting the goalpost twice along with her four bombs that found the net.

Two of her scores were from well outside the box and she was equally adept at shooting the ball with both her left foot and right foot.

The stars aligned in her favor as Hendrix completed her haul on the same day that she announced she’ll be playing soccer in college at Utah State University.

“It’s been a long journey. Lots of years of hard work and going out and finding what I want to do,” Hendrix said. “Yeah. I’m excited.”

For those of you wondering, if a player scores five goals in a match it is called a “glut” and six goals are called a “double-hat-trick.”

“It’s fun trying to be big”

Ruby Wright entered the match with about 25 minutes remaining in the second half and she left everything she had on the pitch.

Ruby Wright (27) defends against a Desert Hills player in a Region 10 soccer match, St. George, Utah, Aug. 25, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The senior at Pine View is what some people call bowlegged. Due to scoliosis as a child, Wright grew shorter than most of her peers and she takes small strides when she runs.

Her legs are uneven in length and she often has to defend players who are almost two feet taller than her.

The resulting disadvantages might be enough to scare away some players, but not Wright. She aggressively challenges the ball and does not back down against any opposing player.

Facing Desert Hills’ bevy of fleet-footed attackers, Wright stood her ground, often shouting and barking like an attack dog.

“I’m loud and aggressive. It’s fun trying to be big when you’re this small,” Wright told St. George News after the game, still breathless from her exertion.

She jokingly added that her height “rounds up to five feet.” She said she’s been playing soccer since she was six years old.

As one of the few seniors on a very young Panthers team, Wright said the chemistry is good and the team’s attitude is positive despite their shaky start.

“It’s really fun, there’s no drama. We’re all making a unified effort,” Wright said. “A lot of people have taken on leadership roles.”

Region 10 soccer games on Tuesday include: Snow Canyon at Desert Hills; Cedar at Hurricane; Pine View at Crimson Cliffs. All game times are at 7:30 p.m.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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