High school soccer: Bengals corner victory over Beetdiggers

SANDY — Each time Brighton sophomore Alexis Felis lined up to take a corner kick against Jordan, there was not a hint of doubt in her mind how the set piece would unfold.

Felis felt confident if she directed the ball to the right spot inside the penalty area that one of her teammates would find to turn the corner kick into something good for the Bengals.

"We have actually improved a lot on our corner kicks," Felis said. "We have gotten tons better. Our corner kicks will definitely be our advantage."

It certainly turned out to be an advantage against the Beetdiggers. Brighton scored its first three goals off of corner kicks to fuel a 4-2 victory on Thursday afternoon.

The Bengals set up their first such goal in the 25th minute when Felis swung a corner kick into the 6-yard box. Katie Tominaga initially got her head on the ball and sent it clanking off the crossbar and straight down onto the grass in front of the goalmouth.

Before Jordan could think to clear it away, McKenna Kimball snuck in unnoticed and tapped the ball in to put Brighton up 1-0.

Stephanie Verdoia took her turn finishing off a corner kick from Felis in the 47th minute. For a moment, it appeared the Beetdiggers would be able to knock the ball out of the penalty area. But Verdoia latched onto a poor clearance attempt around the middle of the area. She dribbled to her right for a few steps before pivoting and unleashing a right footer that hooked under the crossbar to make it 2-0 for the Bengals.

Brighton made it 3-0 in the 57th minute after Felis swung in a corner kick and the ball popped out to Amanda Jensen. With a position advantage just up from the right post, Jensen slotted in between the post and Jordan goalkeeper Shea Dulaney for the easy goal.

Courtney Shill broke free and slotted it past Dulaney on a challenge to give the Bengals their final goal just two minutes later.

Kimball credited the Bengal defense with forcing takeaways and pushing the ball forward to set up those crucial corner kicks.

"They were playing awesome balls," Kimball said. "They were giving us awesome attacks. A lot of our attack was coming from our defense."

It appeared the defense might claim a clean sheet after some fantastic saves by Brighton keeper Amanda Oswald. But the Beetdiggers dashed hopes for a shutout with a pair of late goals.