High school soccer: Bengals spoil Hawks' perfect season
Ever since the top-ranked Hawks dominated their rivals — then ranked No. 2 overall — little had gone right for Brighton. The Bengals lost two out of their next three games after that setback to Alta. Thoughts of a region title had turned to surviving long enough to reach the state playoffs.
Instead, Brighton looked at a rematch with the Hawks as offering a much-needed shot at redemption.
The Bengals redeemed themselves in the best way possible — by winning. They used a stifling defense to limit Alta to six shots and came away with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday.
"It shows that we're a better team than our record shows," junior goalkeeper Amanda Oswald said. "We have very good talent. We just needed to come back after a loss, and I think it took a while. But, I think we're back together and we have our groove again."
Alta's potent front line of Kealia Ohai, Ashley Jones and Lauren Roundy combined for just a single goal against Brighton. The Bengal defenders did an excellent job of shadowing them in the final third of the field — especially Ohai, who didn't score at all.
Finding offense wasn't much of a problem for the Bengals — especially in the first 40 minutes.
Brighton went up 1-0 in the 18th minute when Rachel Ulanch swung a corner kick into Kassidy Kellogg and Kellogg headed it into the net.
Alta evened things up in the 26th minute when Nicole Slater got under a cross to the far post and headed the ball in.
The Bengals retook the lead in the 40th minute on a controversial goal. Jessica Ringwood crossed into Percie Allen on the run. Allen had enough space in the 6-yard box to knock the ball home and make it 2-1 for Brighton.
Alta coach Lee Mitchell protested the goal vigorously, calling for a handball infraction on Allen. From the sideline, it appeared the ball might have struck Allen's arms when she received the pass. But the goal stood and Mitchell earned a yellow card when he continued to berate the linesman.
Brighton stayed in control through much of the second half. Ringwood produced the Bengals' remaining goal in the 65th minute when she wove through multiple defenders, pulled up deep inside the penalty area and rocketed the ball right past Hawks keeper Tashia Long.
Vance feels like this victory proves Brighton is still a factor in 5A. Not only that, but it could have a positive impact on playoff seeding in a couple of weeks.
"It doesn't really matter who it is — we needed this win for playoffs," Vance said.
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com
Recent comments
umm let's see..... last time i checked you honestly can't blame the…
dont blame refs thats retarded | Oct. 6, 2008 at 10:45 p.m.
haha some of these pictures are funny! and some of these players…
anonymous | Oct. 6, 2008 at 9:27 p.m.
Great comments...if they ever get printed! After twenty five great…
The Editor | Oct. 6, 2008 at 11:18 a.m.
