Frosh's hat trick lifts American Fork

PLEASANT GROVE — The American Fork girls soccer team sprinted out to an early lead and never looked back on Wednesday, riding freshman phenom Kaycee Mansfield's hat trick to a 5-1 victory over Pleasant Grove.

From the opening whistle, Mansfield and teammate Lindsay Voorheis gave the opposing Vikings fits with their breakaway speed. Time and again, the duo found themselves open for shots, with Voorheis striking first in the eighth minute to give American Fork a 1-0 lead.

"Lindsay is amazingly fast," coach Mikelle Roth said. "But more importantly, she creates a lot of chances for us to score."

Pleasant Grove was not rattled, however, and its ball-control offense allowed it to dominate time of possession. The Vikings moved the ball swiftly downfield but bumbled their opportunities in front of the net.

American Fork's offensive proficiency increased the deeper it ventured into enemy territory. The A.F. forwards were able to sprint past their defenders, and only the play of Viking goalkeeper Kirsten Logan kept the game close.

However, with the amount of one-on-one opportunities American Fork had, it was only a matter of time before it scored again.

Mansfield scored the second American Fork goal, on another breakaway shot just before the halftime whistle.

Pleasant Grove came storming back to open the second half, increasing its intensity and temporarily stopping the American Fork attack by moving senior Sara Elsey to sweeper. Before the Cavemen could adjust, A.F. senior Leah Stoker directed a header into the bottom right corner of the net, making it 2-1.

In the 51st minute, Voorheis broke free and blasted a shot off the shoulder of the goalie, giving Mansfield an open net to deposit the rebound.

Seven minutes later, A.F. captain Adrienne Schneider tapped in another open-net goal set up by the forwards. For insurance, Mansfield completed the hat trick with 10 minutes left for the final score of the game.

"Our forwards are very fast," said Roth. "(Mansfield) is just a freshman, so she and (Voorheis) are still learning how to play together."

In other prep soccer games Wednesday:

REGION 2

SKYLINE 3, TAYLORSVILLE 0: The Eagles soared past the Warriors behind goals from Stephanie Scott, Nahz Aghdassi and Morgan Sayez.