Mountain Ridge soccer outlasts Herriman, 2-1

By Justin Adams | [email protected]

The Mountain Ridge Sentinels walked off the field with a 2-1 victory over Herriman on Tuesday evening, in what was the first meeting between the two programs as region rivals. (Herriman won two pre-season matches in previous years.)

"This game - every one of my girls had this game circled on the calendar. They knew it was coming," said Mountain Ridge head coach Jeremy King. "I kept telling the girls, 'They can't defend for 80 minutes. Eventually we're going to break them down.'"

The Sentinels struck first, with a header from Karlie Duke that came off of a corner within the first five minutes. 

But the Mustangs answered right back, when Peyton Smith managed to get loose on a counter attack, then deftly lift the ball over the diving Mountain Ridge keeper then slotted the ball into an empty net. 

In the second half, the Sentinels sustained a relentless attack on the Herriman defense.

"They had ten girls behind the ball all game. We knew that was how they were going to play because that's how they've played all year long," King said. "I kept telling the girls, 'They can't defend for 80 minutes. Eventually we're going to break them down.'"

That break down eventually came midway through the second half, when Saige Stuart made a simple move to create some space then launched a strike that sailed past the arms of the diving Herriman keeper. 

Rather than shift to a defensive formation and mentality, the Sentinels continued to focus on maintaining possession.

"That's the mentality of our team. We're going to try to hold the ball for 90% of the game, because if you don't have it, you can't score. And the girls have really bought into that. They work hard, they coach themselves," King said.

However, the Mustangs still nearly managed to break through for a tying goal. With just over a minute remaining, a Herriman attacker crossed the ball into the box, where a host of other Mustangs were in position to score a goal. Unfortunately for Herriman, the assistant referee's flag went up, indicating offsides. It must have been close however, as the head referee conferred with their assistant for over a minute before officially negating the goal. 

Next up for the Sentinels is a road trip to Copper Hills on Thursday. Meanwhile, Herriman will take on West Jordan at home, also on Thursday.