ST. GEORGE — Thursday night was the most intense night of girls soccer so far this year in Region 9. There was almost an upset and a game that was all but over, but had a shocking result. Here is a recap:

Dixie 1, Hurricane 1 (F/2 OT)

The Dixie Flyers and Hurricane Tigers played 100 minutes of intense soccer, but neither could come away with the win.

“It was a great game,” Flyers head coach Sam Gibbs said, “I felt like we played well enough to win it, but so did they. It was 100 minutes of great soccer.”

The Tigers had a good chance in the 77th minute when Kylee Stevens had a shot to score, but was called offside.

The teams were unable to score any goals until the final minute of the game. That is when the game broke loose. Emotions were on high, then on low, and vice versa, depending on the side being cheered for.

During the 79th minute, Mylee Moon got on a breakaway for the Tigers. As she was about to shoot, she was fouled. Officials said she was just outside the box at first, but after some deliberation, decided that Moon had just crossed the line inside the box.

Lena Stevens then set up for a penalty shot, and scored in the right side as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead with a minute left.

On the ensuing possession, the Flyers took advantage of the Tigers’ excitement, racing the ball downfield. After a quick shot was blocked, Kennedy Warnick rebounded the ball for the Flyers and put it into the goal only 20 seconds after the Tigers had taken the lead.

“That’s the game of soccer,” Tigers head coach Luke Stevens said. “One minute, you’re on top of the world and literally the next you could be losing the game. I was worried a little bit that might happen when we scored. Hopefully we can correct that problem.”

Dixie’s coach was thrilled with the quick reply by his squad.

“I was overjoyed,” Gibbs said. “I was so proud of the girls for not giving up. They showed a lot of heart.”

The teams then went into overtime, where neither could put the ball into the goal.

“Hurricane was really good all night, but especially in the first half,” Gibbs said. “They got us out of our game and outplayed us in that half.”

The Tigers are used to tight finishes.

“For us, it was encouraging because we know how to win in overtime,” Stevens said, as the Tigers have now had three consecutive games go into overtime. “In both those overtime periods, I think we were all over them. We wanted the win, but unfortunately time ran out.”

The two teams remain tied for second in the region behind Snow Canyon with seven points, one ahead of Desert Hills.

Snow Canyon 3, Canyon View 2

The Lady Warriors escaped with the win against the Falcons in Cedar City behind Tylei Jensen’s game-winning goal in the 69th minute.

“They played us well,” Lady Warriors head coach Kenny Kunde said. “Canyon View does a good job. They’re well coached. They hustle and are a physical team.”

Kunde was not pleased with the performance by his team Thursday.

“Very disappointing with the performance we had today,” jhe said. “We got the ball stuck in our feet in the grass, couldn’t get rid of it (and) let them kind of push us around a lot. We should have done better.”

For awhile, the teams looked very even. However, in the 20th minute, Sarah Evans put the ball in the net from 30 yards out to put the Lady Warriors up 1-0. Five minutes later, Ashley Brindley scored off an assist from Rachel Durante. The Falcons seemed to almost lose hope at that point.

In the 32nd minute, Morgan Haag gave the Falcons life again off a corner kick when she did what she has all season: score.

The Lady Warriors took a 2-1 lead into halftime.

The second half was just as intense as the first. Neither team managed to put up any goals until the 20th minute.

Falcons wing Mia Smith took a shot that went through the goalie’s hands and into the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2.

“I was just on my energy (that had been) built up,” Smith said “It was all or nothing. It was all the energy I had left. When I shot it, I just thought about my team. I was thinking ‘We gotta win. I got to just put my heart into this.’”

However, in the 59th minute, Jensen scored her game-winning goal and sank the hearts of Falcons fans.

“The overall arching feeling is disappointment,” Kunde said. “But we will never complain about a win.”

CV’s team was thrilled with the effort, though not the final result.

“We all just had our heads in (the game),” Smith said. “We did not want to lose again. With the games we’ve lost, it’s been hard on our whole team. But coming in and playing a first place team, we just had to play with our hearts. Not for ourselves, but for each other, as a family.

“It was a tough one, but we fought through from start to finish. I’m really proud of the team, win or loss.”

Desert Hills 1, Pine View 0

The Thunder survived a scare from the Panthers at Panther Stadium.

Drew Morby had the assist on Kodee Bracken’s goal to lead the D-Hills to victory.

“Pine View played defense like crazy,” Thunder head coach Benji Nelson said, “ They worked the whole game. I thought they would tire out, but they didn’t.”

Nelson also said that Panthers head coach Sam Johnston told him after the game that was the best the Panthers had played all year. He also said that it was a do-or-die game for them and that this game would determine how the season would go.

Next Tuesday’s games (at 7:30 p.m.)
Cedar @ Pine View
Deseret Hills @ Hurricane
Snow Canyon @ Dixie

Region 9 Standings (Region, Points, Overall)
Snow Canyon 4-0-0, 12, 5-1-1
Hurricane 2-0-1, 7, 4-0-1
Dixie 2-0-1, 7, 2-2-2
Desert Hills 2-1-0, 6, 3-4-1|
Cedar 1-2-0, 3, 1-6-0
Canyon View 0-4-0, 0, 3-4-0
Pine View 0-4-0, 0, 0-6-0

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