High school soccer: Soaring Eagle finishes perfect region run

SALEM — The Juan Diego girls soccer team completed its undefeated run through Region 8 by calmly dispatching Salem Hills 5-0 on Wednesday.

The Soaring Eagle finished region play with a perfect 8-0 record and barely had to break a sweat for the last month. Its closest game was a two-goal victory at Delta, and in all games the Soaring Eagle outscored its region opponents 55-2.

The road will get a lot more difficult in a hurry when the state tournament kicks off next week, but for now Juan Diego is confident in its preparation.

"I don't know if you're every ready," Soaring Eagle coach Jamie Schock said. "But, you definitely try to prepare yourself. We want to put our best foot forward so we can show well."

Wednesday's game followed the same basic script as the others. Salem Hills came out with energy and made a game of things for the first 40 minutes while Juan Diego struggled to get focused. The game was still stuck at a scoreless tie in first half stoppage time when Katie Flynn broke the deadlock with her sixth goal of the season.

That score changed the momentum and the Soaring Eagle capitalized and cruised on in the second half.

"We kind of took this game for granted," Schock said. "I thought we took it very lackadaisical to be honest. That's why it was sloppy in the first half. You could tell there was definitely a difference in the second half. We came out stronger and took a little better ownership."

Four second-half goals turned the close game into a blowout.

Katie Flynn added a second, and Anna Jung put two scores of her own in the back of the net and put her total at 10 for the season.

Sabrina Walker was the other scorer, giving her three on the year.

Goalkeeper Allison Bruder was rarely called into action all afternoon and recorded her seventh shutout of the season.

The Soaring Eagle will open the playoffs next Wednesday at home and will play either Wasatch or Judge Memorial — the team it lost to in last year's state championship.

Schock says success in the tournament will largely be based on how well the team connects and plays together.

"Our team chemistry seems to be getting there, and that's a big factor for us to show well down the road," said Schock. "When we play as a team we play well. It's easy to get sloppy and lazy so we're definitely trying to prepare ourselves to not be in that situation."