Bengals take shots, but Silverwolves win

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — If there were one word to describe Riverton's 2-1 win over Brighton on Thursday afternoon, it is opportunistic. The Silverwolves took advantage of their few scoring opportunities and held off a Bengal comeback attempt.

"I thought it was a gutsy performance," said Riverton coach Paul Moizer. "They made the plays when they had to make plays."

The plays that Riverton made came in the form of two late first-half goals, and several nice defensive plays and stops by the keeper.

For most of the game, it was Brighton that maintained possession, controlled the attack and created more scoring opportunities. It held the ball in Riverton's end for long periods of time, firing shot after shot, but sometimes in soccer, it is better to have a limited number of chances and capitalize on them than it is to control the game.

That was what Riverton did when in the 37th minute, Amber Hunt took a free kick from about 35 yards. The ball curled perfectly toward the back corner, and the Brighton keeper was only able to get a hand on it but not deflect it away.

With the Bengals still reeling, freshman Shelby Ostler made what turned out to be the play of the game. She stole the ball from the last Brighton defender and raced in on the goalie. From the edge of the penalty box on the left side, she fired in a shot to the back post for the 40th-minute goal and 2-0 advantage.

"Shelby is a future star," said Moizer. "Give her a couple of years and she will be great."

Though Brighton probably had possession 75 percent of the time, and outshot the Silverwolves 9-3, it had nothing to show for it.

"I thought that Brighton outplayed us in the first half and we were up 2-0. Go figure," Moizer added.

With the lead, Riverton was content to sit back and defend. That meant that goalkeeper Terri Huntington saw plenty of action. She was up to the task as she made 13 second-half saves.

"She played about half of the year at varsity last year," Moizer said. "She came back this year a little taller and with a lot more confidence. She played well for us."

Along with her goal, Hunt played well at her sweeper position. She properly cut down the angles on through balls, and made several clearances on crossing balls.