High school soccer: Lakers do enough to nab semis win

DRAPER — It may not have been the most beautiful game Bonneville has played this year, but the Lakers will take it.

"That most definitely was not our best soccer," said Bonneville's reigning 4A MVP Jaiden Thornock of her team's 2-1 semifinal win over Lehi Tuesday at Juan Diego Catholic High School. "We didn't play our best, but we'll take it. The important thing was that we got the win. We want to play better, but when it comes to this point in the season, you just need to move on."

For the defending champion Lakers, things didn't get off to the start they wanted. Lehi put some pressure on and had some long stretches of keeping play in the Bonneville defensive third. Things were fairly even for the opening 40 minutes, with both teams having a couple of scoring chances before the first half came to a close.

"I thought they were the aggressors to start," said Lakers coach Layne Barker. "I don't think I have seen it happen to our team before, but they were getting to every ball first and really kind of going through us. Their hustle and burst were giving us some trouble and I told the team at halftime that was not how we play and to get after it."

Barker's message — and some obvious luck — gave the Lakers the lift they needed almost immediately after the second half began. Bonneville was awarded a free kick 44 yards from goal. Defender Abby Ulrich took the strike with the intention of sending it toward the middle for her teammates to try to get on the end of the pass. Nobody did and the ball bounced in the area just outside the goal box. Lehi's keeper went to catch the lazy ball, but had it slip through her hands and into the back of the net for the game's first goal.

"I would never want that to happen to anyone and I feel horrible for her," said Barker of the goal, "but I really felt that we controlled things in the second half and had the majority of the run of play, so we were probably deserving of a goal at some point."

The Lakers did string their passes together much better in the second half as midfielders Bailee Freeland, Kami Deeb, Taylor Sebring and Avery Ford had the majority of the possession. They got the ball forward to Thornock and Allie Shaw in some dangerous positions and Bonneville had more chances to score.

It wasn't until the 71st minute that the Lakers were able to convert on one of those chances. Katie Parkinson sent a ball to the middle on a corner kick. After a couple of missed header attempts, the ball landed at the feet of Thornock, who calmly slotted home her 4A-leading 25th goal of the season.

The 2-0 lead didn't last long, however, as Tasha Price had a tremendous strike for the Pioneers less than a minute later from the left side of the box to the upper-right corner of the net, setting up a rather tense final eight minutes for the Lakers.

"I knew we could do it," said Thornock. "I still don't think we have played our best soccer and I am hoping that we can do that on Friday. We want the repeat and if we play our game, I don't think there is a team in the state that can stop us."

e-mail: mblack@desnews.com