High school soccer: For Woods Cross, 1 goal is enough in win

WOODS CROSS — Scoring in bunches characterizes how Woods Cross has played soccer throughout most of this season.

As a team, the Wildcats averaged 5.15 goals per game coming into the final week of the regular season. Only Springville boasts a more potent offense among 4A teams.

But the usual stream of goals slowed to a trickle in a defensive battle against Bountiful on Tuesday afternoon. However, the Wildcats only needed to find the net once to hold on for a 1-0 victory over the Braves.

"Honestly, Bountiful games are so off-the-wall," Woods Cross forward Katie Kirkham said. "It was a very unexpected game. There was not really a (certainty) on anything."

Kirkham at least made a Wildcat victory a sure thing when she produced the game's only goal in the 68th minute.

Fellow senior Tiffany Trost set the play in motion when she made a run down the left wing and crossed to Kirkham at the far post. Many similar crosses had bounced harmlessly wide earlier in the game. This time, however, Kirkham was in perfect position at the right post to make a play.

She settled the ball from Trost and tapped it just inside the post to finally put Woods Cross on the scoreboard.

Kirkham admitted the whole team felt some frustration at not turning earlier crosses into potential scoring plays. She felt like they needed one or two things to go right for something good to happen.

"Those last couple of touches are really what can make or break a game sometimes," Kirkham said.

Woods Cross coach David Newman credited Kirkham for putting herself in the right place to breathe a little life into the offense. The Wildcats had tried to play wide before halftime, but had a hard time setting plays up because players were not in the right positions.

"We had two crosses in the first half like that and we had nobody there," Newman said. "The difference was Katie made it. She got all the way to the end and that was a big difference."

Bountiful put a defensive stamp on the first half. The Braves did a good job of controlling possession by attacking the ball and forcing the Wildcats into making bad passes.

Newman said his team struggled to communicate on offense in the first half and chalked it up to nervous energy created by playing an archrival in the final home game for 12 seniors.

"We gave the ball away more in the first half today than I think I've seen us do all season," Newman said. "They were just nervous."

Beating the Braves for a second time this season not only means bragging rights for Woods Cross, but it clinches a No. 2 seed for the Wildcats heading into next week's 4A tournament.

The Braves are assured of claiming the third and final playoff spot in the region after East beat Olympus on Tuesday to eliminate the Titans from playoff contention. Region 6 will only send three teams to the 4A tournament because Pine View — the second-place Region 9 4A team — finished high enough in the region standings to qualify for the playoffs.

e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com