High school soccer: Bruins beat Tigers, lead Region 7

OREM – The Mountain View boys soccer team had too many attacking weapons for Orem to handle and walked away with a 4-2 win against its cross-town rivals on Tuesday.

Sam Hickman tallied a hat trick and the Bruins got rapid-fire goals near the end of each half to overcome the pair of goals they conceded in the first 40 minutes.

The win keeps Mountain View in first place in Region 7, and puts it in pole position as the only team in the region without a loss.

"Four is better than two," said Bruins coach Mark Graham. "I think it just shows that we're dangerous."

Mountain View initially fell behind in the game when it gave up a quick counter-attack goal midway through the first half. In the 20th minute a long ball out of the defensive third bounced awkwardly at the top of the Bruins' penalty area, and the charging goalkeeper could only get a weak touch on it.

Orem's quick forward Tyler Boulter quickly raced by and scored into an empty net to give the Tigers the early lead.

Near the end of the first half, Mountain View started to get hold of the game and leveled when Josue Cisneros laid off for Hickman at the top of the box. The forward sidestepped one defender before placing the ball in the bottom corner for his first goal

Before Orem had a chance to regroup, the Bruins were in front. Junior Lartey chased a loose ball down near the corner flag, beat a defender, and crossed for Renzo Sanchez for a tap-in.

The Tigers scored just before halftime when Matt Gay was left unmarked from 25 yards out, but that was the last real scoring chance Orem would see again.

"We weren't happy with the way we started," said Graham. "We did have some opportunities but I didn't think we were necessarily controlling the game like we wanted to. We didn't start doing that until the second half."

Mountain View pressured constantly in the last 40 minutes and sent a lot of balls bouncing around the goal area. The Tigers held out for most of the half, before Hickman scored his second goal in the 73rd minute. Lartey sent in a cross to Jake Parkinson, and his touch deflected to the far post where Hickman had an uncontested shot.

A minute later, the lead was doubled when Cisneros assisted Hickman's third goal.

"We're a much better attacking team than we have been," said Graham. "Our outside halves are playing well. We have good midfielders. Our strikers are scoring goals."