Region 10 girls soccer: Snow Canyon clinches title; Cedar, Desert Hills tied for 2nd with 1 game left

Written by E. George Goold
September 29, 2022

ST. GEORGE — The Snow Canyon Warriors clinched the Region 10 girls soccer title by eking out a road win over the Hurricane Tigers on Thursday. That 2-1 double-overtime victory puts the Warriors two games ahead of both Cedar and Desert Hills with just one game remaining in the regular season.

Also on Thursday, Cedar avenged an earlier season loss to Desert Hills by defeating the Thunder 1-0, thereby putting both teams in a tie for second place in the standings. And at Pine View, the Dixie Flyers picked up a road win over the Panthers.

Following are recaps of Thursday night’s action, followed by brief summaries of Tuesday’s contests:

Snow Canyon 2, Hurricane 1 (2OT)

At Hurricane, Snow Canyon survived an upset scare and prevailed over the Tigers in double overtime.

The Warriors’ first-year head coach Connor Brown told St. George News, “We created chance after chance, but the goals weren’t coming.”

Hurricane hosts Snow Canyon in a Region 10 soccer match, Hurricane, Utah, Sept. 29, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Lilly Wittwer scored for the Warriors about 18 minutes into the first half, twirling and booting home a shot from just outside the box for a 1-nil advantage.

The scrappy Tigers would not go away on senior night, netting the equalizer in the second half. The first overtime passed without a score.

But then in double overtime, Ashlee Harris scored the golden goal, knocking in a rebound perfectly captured in the above video.

Millie Warner and Chloe Vowell dispensed assists in the region title-clinching win.

“Extremely proud of my team,” Brown said. “They have battled through all season. They deserve this.”

Snow Canyon plays its final game of the regular season at Crimson Cliffs on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Hurricane finished the season 4-11 overall with a 3-9 mark in region play. The Tigers, who have a bye next week, will likely play their first-round playoff game on the road on Oct. 12.

Cedar 1, Desert Hills 0

Cedar’s Gabby Gomez looks for an opening vs. Desert Hills, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 29, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

In a tightly matched contest at Cedar, the Reds edged the Thunder and split their season series. Gabby Gomez scored the game’s only goal early in the second half when she took an assist from Anna Hall and kicked it into the net.

With a couple of the Reds’ offensive starters sidelined by injuries, Cedar coach Scott Kamachi said he told his players at halftime to come out aggressively and take more shots.

Once the Reds had taken a one-goal lead, they continued to work to keep the ball on the offensive side of the field as much as possible and use the clock to their advantage. Desert Hills managed to get a few good looks toward the end, but Cedar goalkeeper Cambria Simper and her surrounding defenders were able to preserve the shutout win.

With Thursday’s win, Cedar avenged its 2-0 loss at Desert Hills on Sept. 6. The outcome leaves both teams with identical 8-3 records in Region 10 with one game left to play in the regular season. Both are tied for second place in the standings behind the Snow Canyon Warriors, which improved to 10-1 after winning at Hurricane on Thursday.

Cedar’s final regular-season game will be at Pine View next Tuesday, while Desert Hills plays at Dixie the same night.

– written by Jeff Richards

Dixie 1, Pine View 0

At Pine View, Dixie scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second half and held on to defeat the Panthers. Hali’a Pelton made the game-winning score, assisted by Allie Williams. Goalkeeper Monet Rogers earned the shutout for the Flyers.

Tuesday’s games

Snow Canyon 4, Cedar 0

At Snow Canyon, Jolee Irvin got a hat trick and Lottie Smith added another goal as the Warriors shut out the Cedar Reds.

Desert Hills 6, Hurricane 0

At Desert Hills, the Thunder scored three goals in each half as they rolled to a shutout win over the Hurricane Tigers. Ellie Hendrix scored three goals for Desert Hills, while Kooper Dennison added two.

Crimson Cliffs 2, Dixie 1 (2OT)

At Crimson Cliffs, the Mustangs scored the sudden-victory goal during the second overtime. Isabella Cotter and Isabel West each scored for Crimson Cliffs, while Anna Rich scored the Flyers’ lone goal.

Region 10 girls soccer standings, as of Sept. 30 (region, overall)

  1. Snow Canyon, 10-1, 12-3.
  2. (tie) Cedar, 8-3, 11-4. 
  3. (tie) Desert Hills, 8-3, 11-5.
  4. Crimson Cliffs, 6-5, 7-9.
  5. Dixie, 4-7, 4-12.
  6. Hurricane, 3-9, 4-11.
  7. Pine View, 0-11, 1-13.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, 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

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