Five freshmen: Mountain View showcases bright future with a 4-2 win over Timpanogos
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- Bruin forward Eden Peterson defends vs Timpanogos during Tuesday’s match
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- Raeley Searle kicks the ball for Timpanogos
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- Bruin freshman Savannah Jett races down the field during her team’s 4-2 win over the Timberwolves
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- Mountain View’s Cali Willis off a corner kick
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- Mountain View freshman Leah Olsen scored two goals in her team’s 4-2 win over Timpanogos
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- Mountain View celebrates following Zoey Floyd’s goal
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- Mountain View’s Cali Willis and Sienna Benson celebrate their team’s win over Timpanogos
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- Mountain View girls soccer team poses after their 4-2 win over Timpanogos
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- Timpanogos’ Yuna Han celebrates her goal with teammate Paulina Hernandez
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- Mountain View Coach Spencer Steed instructs his team at the half of the Bruins’ 4-2 win over Timpanogos
Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald
Bruin forward Eden Peterson defends vs Timpanogos during Tuesday's match
An early theme that seems to be developing with girls soccer around Utah Valley is a number of top freshmen providing contributions beyond their experience.
For Mountain View, first-year Coach Spencer Steed fielded five starting freshmen in his team’s 4-2 win over Timpanogos on Tuesday, with one of them taking center stage. Freshman forward Leah Olsen scored goals for the Bruins in both the 29th and 38th minutes of the win to lift her team to its first Region 8 win of the year.
“It’s so exciting and I’m so happy for her,” said Olsen’s teammate, senior Molly Yeates, who also contributed a goal of her own in the win. “We’ve been working hard on corners, so for her to execute those was great.”
Yeates has been playing at the varsity level for the Bruins for four years and is embracing her leadership role this season while adding valuable play from her midfield position. She’s not alone in doing as much, with other top veteran players setting the tone for the Bruins.
“The spine of our formation is where we play Molly and our more experienced players, and it’s worked out well so far,” Steed said. “So they’ve done a great job playing our middle positions to help us keep our shape while the freshmen have sort of followed their lead.”
Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald
Raeley Searle kicks the ball for Timpanogos
Other veteran players for the Bruins include junior Zoey Floyd, who scored the final goal for her team on Tuesday in the 74th minute, Raegan Steed, and Mary Fishbein, all of whom start regularly.
As for Spencer Steed’s five starting freshmen, that group consists of Olsen, Brielle Steed, Savannah Jett, Callie Bryan and Peyton Mason.
“All of them have been so good for us so far this season,” Spencer Steed said. “I mean, for Peyton, this is her first time playing goalkeeper for us and she made an unbelievable save tonight and we’re not where we are now without her play back there. We’re 5-2 and that doesn’t happen without her and the rest of them.”
As for Tuesday’s win, specifically, it was Timpanogos taking the lead early courtesy of a goal scored by Yuna Han in the 28th minute before the Bruins responded less than a minute later with the aforementioned goal from Olsen. Olsen’s two goals scored came off of corner kicks, which the team had worked on throughout their practice leading up to the Tuesday’s match.
“I try to make sure the girls are always fresh for games, so yesterday was low load, and pretty much all we did was practice set pieces,” Spencer Steed said. “So we scored off of those set pieces three times tonight, which is obviously great to see happen as a coach.”
Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald
Bruin freshman Savannah Jett races down the field during her team's 4-2 win over the Timberwolves
Yeates’ goal came right after the start of the second half to lift her team to a 3-1 advantage before Floyd’s aforementioned goal extended that lead to 4-1.
Considering Mountain View’s vast array of freshmen contributors, it’s easy to look to the future potential of the soccer program.
“We’re definitely excited with what we’re building here,” Spencer Steed said. “I’ve been coaching for a long time, but this is my first year coaching here at Mountain View and I’ve been very impressed with how hard the girls have worked and I think we have the potential to do great things in the future, although our focus is certainly on this season and we’re off to a great start.”
“It’s been great,” added Yeates. “I really enjoy playing with all our freshmen and it’s fun to be a leader to help them grow as players. We’ve been able to score a lot of goals and we have great team chemistry where we all try and stay positive and to uplift each other. That’s what our focus is and it’s worked great for us so far.”
As mentioned, Mountain View improves to 5-2 on the season with the win and will next travel to take on Uintah on Thursday. Timpanogos drops to 1-5 on the season with the loss and will look to rebound when taking on Orem.
Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald
Mountain View's Cali Willis off a corner kick
Mountain View freshman Leah Olsen scored two goals in her team's 4-2 win over Timpanogos
Mountain View celebrates following Zoey Floyd's goal
Mountain View's Cali Willis and Sienna Benson celebrate their team's win over Timpanogos
Mountain View girls soccer team poses after their 4-2 win over Timpanogos
Timpanogos' Yuna Han celebrates her goal with teammate Paulina Hernandez
Mountain View Coach Spencer Steed instructs his team at the half of the Bruins' 4-2 win over Timpanogos
