Lehi Sports
Lehi boys soccer continues rugged region play
The Lehi boys soccer team has earned a 1-4 record Region 3 matches since upsetting American Fork after returning from spring break.
April 11: Pleasant Grove 4, Lehi 3 (OT)
The Vikings scored in the first minute on their home field as they caught the Pioneers off guard, but the visitors responded to tie the score on a goal by junior Gavin Richards assisted by senior Mark Franco. Pleasant Grove found the target again and took a 2-1 lead into the break.
In the second period, Lehi battled back and erased the advantage when junior Bode Hammond hit the net off a pass from seniorTrey Argyle. Richards scored again with the help of senior Jesse Baker to give the Pioneers their first lead, but the Vikings evened the tally late in the game to force overtime.
A second yellow card to a Lehi player produced a short-handed situation, and Pleasant Grove was able to convert on the chance at the end of the first overtime to win the game. Junior Trey Sherman went the distance between the pipes.
“We had a slow start but once we got going we played well and worked super hard,” said Coach Jonas Hartmann. “PG is a solid team that definitely pushed us today. The boys gave a good effort.”
April 16: Lehi 1, Westlake 0
The Pioneers hosted the Thunder in another competitive contest in which each team had some good moments. Lehi scored in the 17th minute when Argyle created an opportunity for himself and hit the net to set his team up for the win. Sherman earned the shutout in a defensive battle the rest of the way.
“The boys are finding their confidence and belief in winning,” the coach said. “They are adding heart and desire and it’s really starting to show.
“Westlake made it hard to create many shooting opportunitiesbut we did enough to get the win so we are happy with that and will enjoy that until Friday,” he said. “I thought senior defender Junior Harper played a great game as did Elvis Rangel in the middle.
“They both stepped well to the ball today and prevented Westlake from creating many chances,” Hartmann said. “Right in front of them we had McKay Dahl playing defensive mid and we worked extremely hard off the ball to help shut down Westlake attacks. It was a great defensive effort today.”
April 18: Lone Peak 3, Lehi 0
The Pioneers next started a stretch of three road matches against the region’s best teams, which own three of the top four spots in the Class 6A rankings. First up were the No. 2 Knights.
“It wasn’t our day today,” the coach said. “We worked hard but were second best in the majority of the game.” Lehi notably kept Lone Peak out of the net until halfway through the second period, but then the floodgates opened and the Pioneers weren’t able to respond.
“Lone Peak created more chances than we did, and we struggled to match them going forward as well as to find our own opportunities,” Hartmann said. “We will learn from this loss and move forward.
“Our boys worked hard but we just allowed ourselves to sit too deep and invited attacks and Lone Peak is too good for that,” he added. “We had center back Paxton Bentley back who played a great game, as did keeper Trey Sherman.”
April 23: Skyridge 2, Lehi 0
Against the No. 4 Falcons, Hartmann said the match was “an evenly-played affair where Lehi didn’t take advantage of ouropportunities, and we had a few lapses in concentration leading to two goals from Skyridge.”
The home squad scored once in each period. “Skyridge is a good team and they made it hard for us, but we created enough opportunities to be in the game and we just didn’t finish them well enough or were lacking the accuracy in the final pass,” the coach said. Sherman took the loss.
April 25: American Fork 3, Lehi 1
The No. 1 Cavemen had some extra motivation in this match after the Pioneers ruined their undefeated season in the region first round. Richards posted the lone goal for Lehi with junior Marco Miranda providing the assist. Sherman went the distancein goal.
The Pioneers were 4-11 overall coming into the week and were in fifth place in Region 3 with two matches remaining in the regular season.
