ST. GEORGE – The Lady Warrriors have started 2012 red hot.
Snow Canyon’s girls soccer team made a fairly convincing statement in preseason with wins against Copper Hills, Springville and East.
That statement continued in full force Tuesday night when the Lady Warriors downed visiting Pine View 3-0 in a swift contest that could’ve been much worse if Snow Canyon had brought their A-game.
“I thought they played pretty good,” Warrior coach Kenny Kunde said. “It wasn’t their sharpest performance. But anytime you can beat a team like Pine View you know you’ve played a good game.”
Kunde was impressed by the mental toughness displayed by his team, but felt their offense needed a little work.
“We like to keep the ball moving,” he said. “If we can keep the game moving at our pace, other teams can’t keep up. When we slow down, we get out of sync.”
The Warriors may have slacked off late in the game, but early on they looked unstoppable.
Meghan McKenna scored a goal within the first five minutes of play off a perfectly timed head bunt from teammate Sarah Henderson.
“That was just a combination of really good play throughout the team,” McKeena said.
Later, Cami Bergen kicked in a goal of her own with 30-seconds remaining in the second quarter and sent her team into halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Pine View displayed more aggressiveness in the second half. The Panthers defense held strong during a three minute Warriors attack, but their offense couldn’t get past Snow Canyon’s remarkable defense.
“This year it feels like we have more confidence on the defensive end,” Autumn Shipp said. “We’re playing really well right now, mainly because we’re communicating more.”
That communication led to some Pine View frustration. With 22 minutes left in the game, Taylor Wade demonstrated a little too much aggression and subsequently set-up a penalty kick for Henderson, who kicked in the game’s final score.
“Playing against East, which was the craziest match ever, really opened our eyes,” Shipp said. “The close games make you dig deep and show you who you are. We know that if we can push through a team like East, then we can be really good.”
Elsewhere in Region 9, Cedar snapped Canyon View’s perfect season hopes thanks to Hannah Smith and Lindsey Martin, who forced home a goal apiece and led their team to a 2-0 victory.
Dixie defeated Hurricane 2-0 and continued their impressive shutout streak which currently stands at five straight games. The Lady Flyers have outscored opponents a combined 26-0 in those five games this season.
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