Region 9 girls soccer: Crimson Cliffs takes over 1st place; Cedar and Pine View both win

Written by E. George Goold
September 6, 2023

WASHINGTON CITY — The Crimson Cliffs girls soccer team moved into the driver’s seat in the race for Region 9 supremacy.

Crimson Cliffs junior Kate Garrett (3) moves the ball against Desert Hills defender Kamri Yergensen (5) in a Region 9 girls soccer match, Washington, Utah, Sept. 5, 2023 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

After falling behind 1-nil early, the Mustangs tallied twice in the first half then held on to beat Desert Hills 2-1 Tuesday night in Washington Fields.

“We’re working really hard on playing as a team. Everyone has a role,” Mustangs coach Kat Esplin told St. George News. “Everyone did their job tonight, from the starters to the people coming off the bench, and it was just a team win.”

Desert Hills applied all the early pressure. Emery Simister streaked down the sideline, cut into the top corner of the box and lofted a shot past Crimson keeper Kenadee Richey for a 1-nil Thunder advantage.

The Mustangs started applying offensive pressure, slowly and patiently. Crimson’s attack produced a free kick about 30 yards out, and Kate Garrett’s long ball sailed just high and wide of the top corner.

Garrett came right back on the next Crimson possession. She darted down the sideline, cut back across the field around three defenders, pivoted to her left foot and booted the equalizer past Thunder goalkeeper Tess Peterson. 

A little over three minutes later, Quinci Smith poked home a loose ball in front of the cage and Crimson had a 2-1 advantage it would never relinquish.

“We feel like we’ve struggled scoring goals in the first half of our season,” Esplin said. “And so we’ve really been focusing on that in practice. And I feel like it’s showing, we’re starting to get good shots on goal and finishing.”

After that it was a matter of keeping Desert Hills high octane offense contained, particularly lethal scorer Ellie Hendrix.

“She’s an amazing player. She sets up their attack, she scores goals,” Esplin said. “So that was  a big focus, to keep her contained, and I think we did a great job of it.”

Crimson nearly iced the game in the second half when a shot rang off the crossbar.

Desert Hills had a couple of corner kicks and other scoring chances in the second session, but Crimson did a good job keeping Hendrix in the middle of the field and not allowing the talented Thunder forwards to work off the backline.

Crimson improved to 8-2 overall and is alone at the top of the Region 9 standings at 6-0 halfway through the season.

Esplin said she thinks the Mustangs can sweep the region slate and go undefeated.

“If we keep playing like we are, yes we can,” she said. “We’re just going to keep getting better and better.”

Meanwhile Desert Hills slipped to 8-3 overall, 5-1 in region play after the setback.

Cedar 4, Dixie 0

Cedar and Dixie in a Region 9 girls soccer match, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 5, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, Cedar City News / St. George News

Freshman Kyla Johnson scored twice in the first half for Cedar and the Reds went on to shut out the visiting Flyers.

Kenzie Bird and Gabby Gomez each scored for Cedar in the second half.

Tylee Nielson recorded three assists for the winners and Jaden Hlbasko assisted the fourth marker.

Junior goalkeeper Cambia Simper posted the shutout for Cedar.

The Reds improved to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in Region 9. Dixie dropped to 3-6, 3-3 with the loss.

Pine View 2, Hurricane 1

The Panthers picked up their first win of the season in Hurricane.

Pine View netted a score in each half and then held on to win. Other game statistics were unavailable.

Pine View is 1-8, 1-5, while Hurricane’s record is 2-7, 0-6 at the midway point of the season.

Region 9 girls soccer games Thursday, Sept. 7

  • Hurricane at Cedar, 4 p.m.
  • Desert Hills at Dixie, 7:30 p.m.
  • Pine View at Snow Canyon, 7:30 p.m.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, 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

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