Region 9 girls soccer: Desert Hills, Crimson Cliffs co-champs; 4A state playoffs start next week

Written by E. George Goold
September 30, 2023

ST. GEORGE — One goal determined the outcome of the Region 9 girls soccer championship.

Desert Hills beats Crimson Cliffs 1-nil in a Region 9 girls soccer match, sharing the region crown between the Thunder and Mustangs, St. George, Utah, Sept. 30, 2023 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Maya Dalley’s dramatic marker right as time expired in the first half helped Desert Hills defeat Crimson Cliffs 1-nil Thursday night and split the Region 9 crown between the Thunder and Mustangs.

“It was really chaotic during that time,” Dalley told St. George News. “So I was just thinking, just kick the ball and hopefully it goes in. And it did. I think what happened was I was just trying to reach and get a touch, and that was it.”

As the final 30 seconds of a tightly-fought first half ticked down, Thunder speedster Ellie Hendrix raced down the sideline with the ball, dribbling for position. She earned a corner kick with about 12 seconds left.

As quickly as possible Hendrix arced the ball into the center of the box, right in front of the Crimson goal.

Dalley, at the edge of a scrum, stuck her leg out and poked the ball through the legs of a Mustangs defender for the score.

The top two teams in Region 9 battled the entire night, with scoring opportunities few and far between. Most of the play was clogged up at midfield as neither defense yielded any space for players to create.

Crimson turned up the energy and pressed Desert Hills throughout the second half, earning a succession of three straight corner kicks to open the session.

Desert Hills beats Crimson Cliffs 1-nil in a Region 9 girls soccer match, sharing the region crown between the Thunder and Mustangs, St. George, Utah, Sept. 30, 2023 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

But the Thunder defense, making a concerted effort to keep the ball out of the middle of the box, stymied the Mustangs and gave sophomore goalkeeper Tess Peterson good looks at shots and plenty of time to make stops.

“We did a lot of film on them because they had two forwards,” Peterson said. “We just had a lot of communication there and just locked them down.”

Peterson recorded her eighth shutout of the season, according to MaxPreps.

After the win Desert Hills and Crimson Cliffs had equal Region 9 records at 10-2 so they finished as co-champs.

Snow Canyon, which finished 9-3 in region play and beat both the Thunder and Mustangs once, finished in third place.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, Hurricane defeated Pine View 2-1 and Dixie beat Cedar 1-nil.

Those results meant that Dixie and Cedar finished tied for fourth place in Region 9 at 5-7.

Hurricane finished sixth at 2-10 and Pine View completed the Region 9 standings at 1-11.

4A girls state soccer playoffs

The Utah High School Activities Association posted the brackets for the 4A girls state soccer playoffs at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

After this year’s expansion of the 4A class, 24 of 27 teams made the playoffs with the top eight teams getting a first-round bye.

Hurricane defeats Pine View 2-1 in a Region 9 girls soccer match, St. George, Utah, Sept. 28, 2023 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

Green Canyon and Stansbury earned the top two seeds in the tournament, respectively.

Desert Hills earned the No. 6 seed and will play the winner of the first-round matchup between No. 22 Tooele and No. 11 Snow Canyon.

The Warriors won their last eight consecutive games, including a 5-4 overtime thriller against Desert Hills the last time the two teams met in Region 9 action.

No. 8 seed Crimson Cliffs also got a bye and awaits the winner of the first-round contest between No. 9 Mountain Crest and No. 24 Hurricane.

Mountain Crest is the two-time defending 4A state champion.

“They’re the state champs last two years, they have a great team,” Desert Hills coach Benji Nelson told St. George News after the brackets were released.

“Snow Canyon is tough, too,” he added. “Both of us (Region 9 co-champs Desert Hills and Crimson Cliffs) have really tough matches, it’s not going to be an easy run for any of us.”

With over a week before the potential matchup versus Snow Canyon, Nelson said the Thunder intends to keep the intensity level high during practice.

“There’s things we want to work on and prepare for,” Nelson said. “We have to ramp up and prepare. There won’t be an easy game after this first round, for sure.”

Desert Hills and Crimson Cliffs will play their first playoff soccer matches, both at home, Tuesday, Oct. 10.

First-round 4A girls state soccer playoff matchups, Thursday, Oct. 5:

  • No. 22 Tooele at No. 11 Snow Canyon, 4 p.m.
  • No. 24 Hurricane at No. 9 Mountain Crest, 4 p.m.
  • No. 20 Dixie at No. 13 Logan, 4 p.m.
  • No. 19 Cedar at No. 14 Orem, 4 p.m.

Final standings, Region 9 girls soccer (region, overall):

  • Desert Hills 10-2, 13-4
  • Crimson Ciffs 10-2, 12-4
  • Snow Canyon 9-3, 11-5
  • Cedar 5-7, 7-9
  • Dixie 5-7, 5-10
  • Hurricane 2-10, 4-11
  • Pine View 1-11, 1-14

Photo Gallery

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

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!