Sandy • Parowan could smell the upset in the early going Friday
The Rams were facing the defending Class 2A girls’ soccer state champions, and Parowan striker Autumn Rogerson’s left-footed strike in the first five minutes gave her team the lead.
Waterford was having none of it.
The Ravens regrouped and held on for the 3-2 victory in their state semifinal to earn a trip back to Rio Tinto Stadium for the state championship. They will face Rowland Hall, which won its semifinal 8-0 earlier in the day.
Waterford evened the score a few minutes after Rogerson’s goal when Anna Wood received a cross in front of the goal and hammered the shot home to level it.
Wood added her second goal of the game in the 18th minute. She played a ball toward the keeper from from about 20 yards out and the keeper mishandled the ball, which trickled i to the back of the net for the 2-1 lead.
“We have been working on the long shots all season, so I just decided to go for it,” Wood said. “I got extremely lucky it went in, but I’m glad that it did.”
Waterford doubled its lead with eight minutes remaining in the half when Angelina Pederson was able to get the ball just beyond the reach of the Rams goalkeeper.
Parowan looked to apply pressure much more frequently in the second half, getting off several shots within the first few minutes after the intermission.
Rogerson struck for her second goal of the game when she curled the ball into the left side of the net with 12 minutes left, but the Rams could not find the equalizer.
With the crowd counting down, the Waterford players started to celebrate as they move on to try to defend their title.
But the Ravens will face a Rowland Hall team that has had their number all season. Rowland Hall has gotten the better of Waterford by a combined score of 13-2 in their two previous games this year.
“I know that we lost to them both times during the regular season, but we just have to go out and try our hardest, hoping to come away with another state title,” Wood said.
Waterford will try for its seventh state championship in Saturday’s 4 p.m. title match.