Prep soccer: Warriors, Flyers move into state semis with Saturday wins

File photo, Snow Canyon vs. Hurricane, Soccer , St. George, Utah, Apr. 8, 2016, | Photo by Kevin Luthy, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Angel Muniz found a way to take bad weather out of the equation in Snow Canyon’s 6-1 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Grantsville on Saturday at Warrior Stadium. He scored early.

Muniz fired a left-footed shot past Cowboys goalkeeper Parker May 43 seconds into the match

snow-canyon-logograntsville-bg“That made us play a lot more relaxed and better as a team,” Muniz said. “We weren’t blasting the ball around but we were able to touch it around.”

Muniz gave the Warriors, who earned the right to meet Logan in the semifinals next week, a 2-0 cushion when he fired a penalty kick past May with 25 minutes left in the first half. The Warriors got a 19-yard goal from Max Kemp with 16:14 remaining and added goals from Kaden Wittwer, Parker Jenkins and Kevin Chillin in the second half. Grantsville got a penalty kick goal from Bennie Tripp with 12 minutes remaining.

“We had to keep the ball low and move it around because it was raining,” Muniz said.

Angel Muniz (10) scored two goals for the Warriors, file photo from Desert Hills vs. Snow Canyon, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Apr. 7, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Angel Muniz (10) scored two goals for the Warriors, file photo from Desert Hills vs. Snow Canyon, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Apr. 7, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Of the semifinal game next week, he said, “we need to be more trusting and confident in each other.”

That’s the way the Warriors were all game, crisply moving the ball around and frustrating the Cowboys, who only had a handful of shots against goalkeepers Quinn Hargin and Brayden Brough. The back line of Jenkins, Branson Stafford, Dallen Moody and Adrian Torres added to that frustration as they did their part in keeping the ball moving.

“They played as good as they have all season,” coach Marc Wittwer said of his Warriors. “They were sharing the ball and using everyone on the field.”

“We played smart and simple and made it easy on themselves,” said Warrior technical director Nyle Ortiz.

Dixie 3, Stansbury 2

The defending state champion Flyers kept their title hopes alive by outlasting the Stallions. They will meet undefeated Juan Diego in next week’s semifinals.

dixie-logostansbury-logoTauri Morales scored all three goals for Dixie, the final one in the last minute. One came when he rebounded a Thayne Reid shot.

Dixie coach Burt Myers said the field was muddy and difficult to play on.

“I thought my defense played hard,” he said. “The team responded well and showed a lot of grit.”

In addition to the wet, muddy field, the two teams had to deal with a 45-minute lightning delay.

Juan Diego 3, Desert Hills 0

Michael DiGeronimo scored just before halftime and Woody Greer and Brandon Sands added second-half goals for the Soaring Eagle.

juan-diego-logodesert-hills-logo“It was a great first half, very even,” said Desert Hills coach Benji Nelson. “Both teams tried to possess the ball and both teams had a few good opportunities. They got their goal in the last 30 seconds.

The second half they won most of the 50-50 balls and they were the better team.”

Logan 3, Canyon View 1

Joseph Kiflom scored two goal to help the second-seeded Grizzlies defeat the No. 1 Falcons in Cedar City.

logancanyon-view-logoLogan, the No. 2 seed from Region 11, got its 10th win of the year by traveling the nearly 350 miles to take on Canyon View. The Grizzlies have only lost two games — both to undefeated Juan Diego — since March. They lost to Snow Canyon, Thursday’s semifinal foe, 2-0 in the preseason and also played Dixie to a 1-1 tie.

The Falcons finish the year with a 12-5-1 record after going 8-0-0 in Region 12 play.

3A State Semifinal Matchups (Thursday at Alta High School in Sandy)
Snow Canyon 14-4-1 vs. Logan (10-5-2), 4 p.m.
Dixie (13-3-1) vs. Juan Diego (16-0-0), 6:15 p.m.

3A State Championship (Saturday at Alta High School in Sandy)
Semifinal winners at 11 a.m.

3A State Tournament bracket

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.