High school soccer: Freshman Katie Henderson leads Timberwolves over the Braves

OREM — Katie Henderson knows how to make a good first impression.

Henderson saw her varsity debut as a chance to show she deserved a shot at a spot in the starting lineup. She could not have put together a more perfect audition.

The freshman came off the bench and notched a pair of goals to lift Timpanogos to a 3-1 victory over Bountiful in the season opener for both soccer teams on Tuesday afternoon.

"It's the first time I've ever scored two goals in a game," Henderson said.

Henderson could not have picked a better time to do it, and both came after some impressive hustle on her part.

With the score tied at 1-1, Henderson came up with the go-ahead goal in the 22nd minute. McKenzie Adams fired the ball near the top of the area, and Braves goalkeeper Carley Longhurst knocked the shot down. But the ball deflected off of her gloves and bounced over to Henderson near the left post. She slid it right behind Longhurst to give the T-wolves a 2-1 lead.

Henderson boosted that advantage to 3-1 in the 72nd minute with another clean-up goal.

She is off to a terrific start as far as Timpanogos coach Natalyn Lewis is concerned. Lewis said that the T-wolves have tremendous depth at the offensive end, so being a starter isn't a guaranteed thing.

But she admitted that Henderson has the potential to make a change happen.

"She's definitely got her work cut out for her to get to that starting spot, but if you continue to put goals in the back of the net, you force my hand," Lewis said.

Besides Henderson, Timpanogos also enjoyed a nice debut from its rebuilt defensive backfield. The T-wolves graduated all of their starting defenders from last year's team that won the 4A championship.

Their replacements didn't skip a beat. Bountiful struggled to get anything besides long balls past the T-wolves. Timpanogos controlled possession in the midfield and attacked the Braves defense with unbridled aggressiveness.

"We played tight aggressive defense," Lewis said. "That's one of the things I've talked to them about is staying tight and staying hard on their marks defensively. I think they really did that. They really gave them something to have to work for."

Ironically, it was Bountiful that struck first offensively. The Braves seized a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute when Alexis Peterson tracked down a long ball, split two defenders and then curled a shot behind the back of freshman goalkeeper Sydney Oldroyd.

The T-wolves did not give Bountiful any time to celebrate. Timpanogos answered less than a minute later when a series of passes culminated in Adams feeding Jaime Harward for a perfectly placed header that evened the score at 1-1.

e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com