5A high school soccer: Alta beats Layton, heads back to semifinals

SANDY— It wouldn't be the girls' high school soccer playoffs without the Alta Hawks in the semifinals.

After scoring two goals early in the first half of their quarterfinals match up against Layton, the Hawks reserved their spot in the semifinals of the 5A state tournament for the eighth consecutive season with a 3-1 win on Thursday afternoon.

"I was thinking, 'I know they're an awfully good team and well coached,'" said Alta coach Lee Mitchell coming into the game. "We just had to go out and play as a team, play Alta ball."

Just 11 minutes into the game, Lexe Selman sent the ball sailing into the right corner of the goal for her third score of the season to get the Hawks on the board early. Moments later, Kim Thurman knocked down a pass directly in front of the net and slid the ball past Layton goalkeeper Tenli Waters to give Alta a two-goal advantage.

Courtnee Wood found the net for the 10th time of the season to bring her Lancers within one, but the Hawks regrouped and dominated the time of possession from that point on.

Both teams came out of the halftime break playing very physical, leading to numerous fouls called, as well as a yellow card and a red card on the Lancers.

"We like to play a finesse game but others like to play us physical," Mitchell said of the rough play. "They think it's how they'll beat us."

Kealia Ohai scored the third and final goal for the Hawks, her 32nd of the season, off of a penalty kick after she was tripped in the box by the Lancers' Haley Gold. It was a play in which players from both teams were knocked to the ground, but it was Gold who earned the only yellow card.

"(Ohai) just gets hammered," Mitchell added, referring to the way opposing teams have attempted to defend the state scoring leader and North Carolina recruit. "She doesn't talk. She just plays."

Other than the solo Lancer goal, the Alta squad was in command of the game from start to finish, keeping the ball in the control of its forwards for the majority of the game. This kept Waters busy, as the Hawks had seven corner kicks and 21 shots on goal compared to just six for the Lancers. The Layton defense gave a solid effort to keep Alta from turning the game into a blow out.

Up next, the Hawks will face the Region 1 runners up Fremont Silver Wolves for the first time of the season on Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. on the turf at Juan Diego Catholic High School.

"I don't have a preference about who we play. When you have a preference, you just get disappointed," Mitchell said. "We will just focus on us. We'll play our game."

e-mail: sthomas@desnews.com