Region 10 girls soccer: 1st half of season ends with Cedar, Snow Canyon, Desert Hills tied for 1st place

Written by E. George Goold
September 9, 2022

ST. GEORGE — The first half of the Region 10 girls soccer season wrapped up late Thursday with a three-way tie for first place.

First, Cedar picked up a home shutout win over Pine View in the afternoon to improve to 5-1 in region play. Then, in the two evening games that ran later due to lightning delays, both Desert Hills and Snow Canyon were also victorious. 

The Reds, Thunder and Warriors are now tied for first place with 5-1 region records.

Not only that, the next three teams in the standings are also tied for fourth place, as Hurricane, Crimson Cliffs and Dixie all sport 2-4 region records.

Following are recaps of this week’s games:

Desert Hills 2, Dixie 0

After the teams waited through a 40-minute lightning delay, Ellie Hendrix scored the only goal Desert Hills would need about midway into the first half.

Desert Hills and Dixie in a Region 10 soccer match, St. George, Utah, Sept. 8, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The pitch at Desert Hills was windswept and hot. Both offenses struggled to flow through midfield as the wind played havoc with even the shortest passes.

Then Hendrix took command of a loose ball at midfield and charged to the goal. Her side step created the space she need to loft a shot from about 18 yards out that sailed over the outstretched hand of Dixie’s goalie.

It was the 10th tally of the year for the junior striker who has announced her intent to play at Utah State in college.

Desert Hills netted an insurance marker in the second half when Andrea Gaona tallied for the Thunder with an assist from Hendrix.

Kooper Dennison assisted the first goal.

Senior goalkeeper Aisey Gargano recorded the shutout in the Thunder win.

Snow Canyon 1, Crimson Cliffs 0 (OT)

At Crimson Cliffs, the Snow Canyon Warriors broke a scoreless tie by scoring the game-clinching golden goal with 2:41 left in the first 10-minute overtime.

Lilly Wittwer scored the game-winner, with an assist from Maddie Clegg.

Cedar 7, Pine View 0

At Cedar, the Reds opened up a 5-0 lead in the first half, with Keana Tolman scoring three goals and Rylan Tebbs adding two.

Keana Tolman scores in the first half of Cedar’s 7-0 win over Pine View in Region 10 girls soccer action, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar’s reserve players and underclassmen were on the field for most of the second half, although Tebbs did pick up the third goal of her hat trick. Kenzie Bird also scored on a header.

Goalkeeper Cambria Simper earned the shutout for Cedar.

Cedar coach Scott Kamachi said his team is in a good position with a 5-1 region record at the halfway point of the season.

“Going into the second half, it’s like I told the girls, we kind of control what we do,” he told Cedar City News after the game. “You know, winning region’s a possibility but so is coming in third or fourth place.”

Next time the Reds play Pine View, he noted, “It’ll be at their place, on their senior night.”

“I mean, they’re gonna want to win. They’re gonna want to come out and play hard, so we’ve got to continue to play everybody as if it’s like a playoff game.”

– written by Jeff Richards

Tuesday’s games

Snow Canyon 10, Hurricane 3

At Snow Canyon, the Warriors opened up a 6-0 lead in the first half and rolled to a 10-3 win over the Tigers. Lilly Wittwer and Ashlee Harris each scored three goals and made two assists, while teammate Jolee Irvin added a pair of goals and two assists.

Desert Hills 2, Cedar 0

At Desert Hills, the Thunder scored once in each half in a 2-0 win over the Cedar Reds. Kamri Yorgenson and Kooper Dennison each scored for the Thunder, with Ellie Hendrix assisting on both. Goalkeeper Aisey Gargano picked up the shutout.

Dixie 4, Pine View 1

At Dixie, the Flyers opened up a 2-1 lead over the Panthers in the first half, then scored two more insurance goals in the second half. Allee Williams scored two of Dixie’s goals and also recorded an assist.

Region 10 girls soccer standings, as of Sept. 9 (region, overall)

  1. Cedar, 5-1, 7-2.
  2. Desert Hills, 5-1, 8-3.
  3. Snow Canyon, 5-1, 7-3.
  4. Hurricane, 2-4, 3-6.
  5. Crimson Cliffs, 2-4, 3-8.
  6. Dixie, 2-4, 2-9.
  7. Pine View, 0-6, 1-8.

Photo Gallery

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!