Region 9 soccer recap: Cedar beats Hurricane for 1st victory; Dixie, Desert Hills also win

Written by Jeff Richards
March 29, 2019
Hurricane vs. Cedar, Cedar City, Utah, March 29, 2019 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — The Cedar Redmen won their first boys soccer match of the season Friday afternoon, winning 3-1 at home over the Hurricane Tigers.

Hurricane made the first goal of the game early on, with Kaden Hatch scoring from a corner kick. However, in about the 30th minute of play in the first half, Cedar senior David Pearson kicked in a goal to tie the score 1-1. Just a couple minutes later, Pearson struck again, this time on a distant left-side shot that found the corner of the net.

Cedar stayed ahead 2-1 until halftime. Early in the second half, Hurricane goalkeeper Luke Christian, a junior, injured his leg in a collision inside the goal box and was transported off the field by medical trainers in a golf cart.

Christian reportedly suffered a spiral fracture of both the tibia and fibula bones in his lower right leg and is out for the remainder of the season, Hurricane head coach Jeff Fry said after the game.

In about the 50th minute of play, Cedar’s Kett Einfeldt lofted in a high-arcing header past replacement goalkeeper Bryce Hubbard to give the Redmen a two-goal cushion.

Cedar was able to maintain that lead the final 30 minutes, using the clock to their advantage in picking up their first win of the season.

Kett Einfeldt of Cedar celebrates with teammates after heading in a goal in the second half as the Redmen defeated Hurricane 3-1, Cedar City, Utah, March 29, 2019 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“We’re getting better every single game. We feel like our worst soccer is behind us,” Cedar head coach Scott Kamachi said. “We still have things to work on. We’re still kind of a young team as far as experience goes, but we’re hoping to just kind of build on this. We’re just trying to make the playoffs at this point. It is going to be really tight for that last playoff spot, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

Kamachi said the win provided a nice confidence boost for his team, which improved to 1-4 in Region 9 play.

“It gives us good experience to play these good teams and see what we need to work on so we can keep building as we go towards the playoffs, and hopefully get there.”

Canyon View at Desert Hills, St. George, Utah, March 29, 2019 | Photo by David Larson, St. George News / Cedar City News

In other Region 9 action Friday, Desert Hills defeated Canyon View 5-0 at Desert Hills. Ben Simister scored in the first half to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead at halftime. Then, during the second half, Kai Klingonsmith and Mitchell Squires each scored two goals as goalkeeper Preston Hodges recorded the shutout.

In addition, the Dixie Flyers picked up a 3-0 shutout at home against the Pine View Panthers. After a scoreless first half, the Flyers got two goals from Easton Ellett and one from Andy Rich, with keeper Jacob Larkin earning the shutout.

Next Tuesday’s Region 9 schedule is as follows: Pine View will play at Canyon View at 3:30 p.m., Cedar will play at Snow Canyon at 7 p.m. and Dixie will play at Desert Hills at 7 p.m.

Region 9 boys soccer standings (as of March 29)
Dixie 5-0 (5-0-1)
Desert Hills 4-1 (7-1-1)
Snow Canyon 4-1 (4-3)
Pine View 2-3 (3-5)
Cedar 1-4 (1-7)
Canyon View 1-4-1 (3-5-1)
Hurricane 0-4-1 (1-7-1)

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, 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 two young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

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

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