Prep soccer: Thunder in 1st as Dixie-SC play to a draw

Dixie vs. Snow Canyon, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Mar. 31, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – In a marquee matchup that could have region title and state ramifications, the Dixie Flyers and Snow Canyon Warriors battled to a 0-0 tie Friday night at Walt Brooks Stadium. Meanwhile, there was another draw in the region with Cedar and Hurricane ending up in a tie as well. And Desert Hills took over the top spot in Region 9 with a sound win over Pine View.

Here’s a roundup of the action:

Dixie 0, Snow Canyon 0 (F/2OT)

Both defenses held strong in a double shutout draw between the Flyers and Warriors.

The two teams had ample opportunities to score, including shots that glanced off the top crossbar and side posts.

Snow Canyon started the match out fast with two quick shots in the first two minutes of the game. The second shot went over the bar.

Snow Canyon’s Yetzel Carrillo (23), Dixie vs. Snow Canyon, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Mar. 31, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Dixie head coach Burt Myers was happy with the way his team responded with better passes and possession in the second half.

“We went in at halftime lucky not to be down one or two,” Myers said. “I thought we had better opportunities the second half. We had four that just slid by the post. It was two teams just battling. The kids laid it all on the field. They’re going to be tired tomorrow.”

Jesse Wilkinson, a member of Dixie’s back defensive line, played a great game on the right side of the field.

“I felt that we did good in the air compared to a team like that – a team like Snow Canyon that is good in the air,” he said. “We knew we needed to practice that. We knew they had those good throw-ins, and that was a couple of their real good chances they had. I think we did good on that.”

Snow Canyon head coach Marc Wittwer was disappointed in the final score.

Snow Canyon’s Adrian Torres (3) and Dixie’s Oscar Quintero (38), Dixie vs. Snow Canyon, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Mar. 31, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“I thought we played well – disappointing result,” Wittwer said. “We really wanted to win tonight. Defensively, I thought we were really sound tonight. I didn’t think Dixie had a lot of opportunities on us. We have a really solid defense, and they were just aces tonight.”

SC kept the pressure in the second half, but with much more difficulty as Dixie kept forcing the ball back into Snow Canyon’s territory.

“We just talked about keeping our spacing better, don’t ball watch, know where their players are, turn it inside – everything we practice, and we did a better job at it,” Myers said.

Kadin Dorius, a member of SC’s back defensive line, thought he and the defense played extremely well.

“We played good defensively, we just couldn’t execute some of our opportunities,” Dorius said. “I think we’ll keep working on finishing and get it next time.”

Both teams had excellent chances to score in the first overtime, but the keepers stepped up and either forced the shot to go wide or stopped it.

“There were a couple of good chances we should have stuck in, right across the face of the goal,” Wilkinson said. “We’ve just got to look forward and live with the tie, just grateful it’s not a loss. Just keep moving forward, practice, and be ready for the next time we play them.”

Snow Canyon’s Kadin Dorius (25), Dixie vs. Snow Canyon, Soccer, St. George, Utah, Mar. 31, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Dixie will play at Hurricane next on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

“We’ll kink a couple little things for the teams we’re playing, but we’re not going to make any major changes,” Myers said. “We’ve just got to do what we’re doing a little bit better. If we can keep our shape better, we’ll become a better team.”

Snow Canyon will host Desert Hills Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a big game, a really big game,” Wittwer said. “It’s all about Tuesday. We’ll just go at it just like any other game, shut down (defense) before it starts. We just have to keep them motivated, but they’ll be up for Desert Hills. We’ll be ready for them.”

Desert Hills 3, Pine View 0

The Thunder took over the top spot in Region 9 with a sound 3-0 win against the Panthers.

D-Hills led 2-0 at the half, but Pine View couldn’t mount a comeback and fell to 0-3 in region play.

Kelton Holt had a phenomenal game as he assisted the first and third goals and scored the second goal. Jacob Simister scored the first goal, while Bryant McCoy scored the third.

Isaiah Hacker recorded the shutout, his third one of the year.

Desert Hills will try to keep the top spot in Region 9 while facing the defending champion Snow Canyon Warriors Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Pine View will travel to Cedar to take on the Redmen at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Cedar 1, Hurricane 1

Cedar and Hurricane each got a goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net again as the game ended in a draw.

Hurricane is still tied with Dixie for third place in Region 9, while Cedar finally earned its first point.

Jaden Carver scored the goal for Cedar. There was no report who scored for Hurricane.

Cedar will host Pine View Tuesday at 4 p.m. next.

Hurricane will play host to Dixie to see who will take over third place early in the season. Kickoff is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Region 9 Soccer Standings (team, region, points, overall)
Desert Hills 3-0-0 (9) 7-2-0
Snow Canyon 2-0-1 (7) 6-2-1
Dixie 1-1-1 (4) 5-2-1
Hurricane 1-1-1 (4) 3-3-1
Cedar 0-2-1 (1) 2-7-1
Pine View 0-3-0 (0) 1-7-0

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, 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.