Draper • After finishing a tidy 5-0 win over Brighton on Thursday afternoon, the Corner Canyon Chargers rushed off the field unknowing that they just had clinched a share of their school’s first region title in girls’ soccer.
With little else on her mind besides getting out of the cold, windy conditions, sophomore forward Kenli Coon had an abrupt and honest take on learning of her team’s accomplishment.
“It’s freaking awesome!”
Corner Canyon coach Krissa Reinbold quietly had been keeping track of the standings in recent weeks.
“I track it, but I try not to talk to the girls about it,” Reinbold said. “For us, it’s been about continuing to prove ourselves. We feel like not a lot of people take our team very seriously yet. We’ve been building this program for a long time now, and we’ve got a special group this year. We’re not going to be satisfied until we have that region title to ourselves.”
After heading into the halftime break knotted at 0-0 with second-place Brighton, the chance of clinching a portion of the Region 7 title still was up in the air. But everything began to click for the Chargers five minutes into the second half when Coon’s opening goal proved to be the game-winner.
After weaving her way around the defenders in the midfield, Coon looked up and saw her chance as she blasted a shot toward the far post. Her shot was unable to avoid the outstretched hand of the Brighton goalkeeper, but it was powerful enough to hit the turf and trickle into the net to give the Chargers a 1-0 lead in the 45th minute.
“I just followed play and hoped it would go in,” Coon said. “It was definitely a relief when I saw it roll in.”
Another underclassman doubled Corner Canyon’s lead 10 minutes later when junior Makenzie Taylor unknowingly found the net in the 55th minute.
Following a deflected Charger corner kick, the junior attacker put her laces on a half-volley with the hope of delivering a dangerous ball across the face of goal for a teammate to pounce on. Luckily for her, the perfectly placed cross-shot evaded all bodies and found the side netting at the far post to give Corner Canyon a 2-0 lead.
“I didn’t even see it go in the goal,” Taylor said. “I just saw the ball fall down after it hit the net. I don’t know how that happened.”
But what Taylor does know is that her team has a knack for finding offense after slow starts.
“The fire that we can come out with in the second half is unreal with this team,” she said. “I see our team come out, and I know we can do it.”
The offense continued to flow in the second half when senior Makenzie Easton added a pair of headed goals, and fellow senior Hallee Jones added the finishing touch as the Chargers improved their winning streak to nine games.