3A girls soccer: Canyon View Falcons win 3rd straight Region 12 title, earn No. 1 playoff seed

Written by Jeff Richards
October 5, 2023

CEDAR CITY — The Canyon View High School girls soccer team finished the regular season as Region 12 champions and earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming 3A state playoffs.

Canyon View hosts Richfield in Region 12 girls soccer, Cedar City, Utah, Oct. 3, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The Falcons finished with a 13-1 record in region play, their last match a 6-1 victory at home over Richfield in the season finale on Tuesday.

Canyon View senior Hallie Newman netted the Falcons’ first goal in the opening minutes, assisted by Maya Nichols. Then, midway through the first half, junior Hadlee Farrow booted in a free kick from the right wing, giving the home team a 2-0 lead.

Although Richfield got on the scoreboard with a goal just before halftime, the Falcons didn’t allow any others. Canyon View went on to outscore the Wildcats 4-0 in the second half, with Brook Davie, Emilee Winters, Harmony Lopez and Emery Miles all recording goals.

“It was great to see six different players score today,” said Canyon View head coach Steven Newman. “We enjoy seeing everyone contribute to the program’s success.”

All eight of the team’s senior players saw action, with four of them scoring goals.

“It was fun to see all the seniors get to play today,” Newman said. “They have worked hard for four years to take the team from a four-win season (in 2019, the year before they were freshmen) to region champs.” 

Canyon View hosts Richfield in Region 12 girls soccer, Cedar City, Utah, Oct. 3, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The team’s seniors, Newman added, have led the program and helped keep it balanced.  

“It has been fun to watch these girls develop from young timid freshmen into seniors who are ready to take on the world after graduation,” he added. 

Canyon View actually clinched this year’s region title t Sept. 28 when the Falcons avenged an earlier loss to Delta by defeating the Rabbits 1-0. Erin Hallows scored the lone goal of the contest, assisted by Bethanee Vargas, while goalkeeper Gracie Burt picked up the shutout.

Finishing in second place in the Region 12 standings were the Manti Templars, who posted an 11-3 region record, with two of the losses coming to Canyon View (the Falcons won 4-0 at Canyon View on Aug. 29 and 2-1 at Manti on Sept. 26). 

Canyon View has outscored its opponents 81-9 over 17 games this season, including 68-6 in the 14 region games. Nine of the Falcons’ wins have been shutouts.

The Region 12 title marks the third in a row for the Falcons. In 2021, Canyon View went 6-0 in region, 16-4 overall, eventually losing in the state 3A semifinals to Ogden, 3-0. In 2022, the Falcons went 8-0 in region, 14-4 overall but lost at home in the playoff quarterfinals to Juan Diego in a 0-0 contest that was decided by a penalty kick shootout.

With the No. 1 seed in this year’s playoffs, Canyon View earned a first-round bye and will await the winner between No. 16 South Summit and No. 17 Emery, which will face each other at Kamas on Saturday afternoon. The winner of that game will travel to Cedar City to face the top-seeded Falcons on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 4 p.m.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, 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 and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

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

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