Surpassing expectation: Spanish Fork continues its remarkable turnaround with a 2-1 win over Pleasant Grove
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- Spanish Fork’s Brooklyn Huish dribbles through traffic during her team’s 2-1 win on Tuesday
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- senior midfielder Kamrey Robinson has been one of the Don’s leaders this season
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- Spanish Fork forward Kylie Harris
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- Spanish Fork’s Aspen Fredericks and Taylor Vincent
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- Spanish Fork’s Reese Harding is one of the team’s standout freshmen this season
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- Spanish Fork Coach Harry Roberts-Hunt instructs his team during halftime
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- Spanish Fork’s Cassie Larsen
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- Spanish Fork forward Sienna Hunt
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- Spanish Fork’s Addy Gwilliam goes high after the ball on a corner kick
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- Spanish Fork’s Dayanna Torres
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- Spanish Fork’s Kylie Harris battles to control a pass during her team’s 2-1 win over Pleasant Grove
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- Spanish Fork’s Kamrey Robinson celebrates with teammates following Tuesday’s win over Pleasant Grove
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- Spanish Fork poses for pictures following a 2-1 win over Pleasant Grove
With the Spanish Fork girls soccer team on the cusp of out the regular season, Coach Harry Roberts-Hunt is finding himself consistently changing up the Dons’ goals, both collectively and individually.
And that’s absolutely a good thing.
Take junior defender Hannah Knight as the most recent example.
A little before the Don’s matchup versus Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, Roberts-Hunt reviewed Knight’s goals for the season in which she expressed the desire to get just one goal from her defensive position.
Well, mission accomplished.
With just under 30 seconds remaining in regulation, and Spanish Fork locked in a 1-1 tie with the Vikings, Knight received the ball about 25 yards from the goal. Sure, a bunch of traffic stood in front of her, but she managed to weave the ball just inside the far post and past a diving attempt from Pleasant Grove’s goalkeeper for what proved to be the winning goal.
“She ran up to me after, gave me a big hug and said, ‘I did it. I got my one goal for the season!,'” Roberts-Hunt related. “And what a way for her to do it, too. Pleasant Grove has a fantastic goalkeeper, so her strike had to be perfect, and it was. It was a great moment for her and for our team.”
“It was a really neat experience. The ball just rolled my and I decided to just go for it, and I got it. I got my goal,” Knight, who isn’t used to being front and center for her team, said.
Those who are front and center for the Dons this season have been standouts like midfielder Kamrey Robinson along with top defenders Cassie Larsen and Addy Gwilliam on top of some standout young freshmen and sophomores. Overall the team has largely exceeded most goals set during the preseason in securing a 12-4 overall record and 9-3 mark in Region 7 competition.
“It’s super interesting because a big goal we had at the start of the season was simply to win more games than we lost, and we’ve flown past that goal,” Roberts-Hunt said. “So now we’re at the point where we have the belief that we can truly compete and beat anyone. So why not just win the whole thing? I really can’t see why we can’t. We’ve surpassed all of our expectations, so far, and reaching other goals won’t be easy, but I really, really like this team’s work and buy-in in what’s just my second season coaching here.”
Last season saw the Dons struggle to a 6-12 overall record and subsequent early exit from the 5A state playoffs. This season has seen that record pretty much flipped with Spanish Fork notching big wins versus the likes of Maple Mountain, Timpview and Springville, among several others with several of those outcomes coming in the thrilling manner of the Dons last second win over the Vikings on Tuesday.
“We’ve been really big on our standards and team values this year, and one of those values is simple belief,” Roberts-Hunt said. “So at any moment of any game we don’t believe that we’re out of it. And we’ve had games where we scored a goal with just seven seconds left to beat Maple Mountain, and then two overtime wins, and now this one. It’s a testament to the girl’s belief and their resilience. All the credit goes to them and how they’ve bought into our team values.”
Taking thrilling wins can be fun, although Roberts-Hunt certainly wouldn’t mind wrapping up more wins sooner rather than later during the course of play.
“We need to start figuring out how to get it done in the first half so I can stop graying out (my hair),” Roberts-Hunt quipped. “It can be stressful, but it’s great seeing our girls go a full 80 minutes with the belief necessary to get the wins that we’ve had.”
Leading the comeback effort prior to Knight’s game-winner was Dayanna Torres, who found the back of the net after a strike from Gwilliam hit the crossbar, forcing Pleasant Grove’s goalkeeper out of position. The goal tied things up at 1-1 with just eight minutes gone in the second half of play.
“We’ve had a lot of different players step up and it really has been a total team effort with total buy-in from everyone,” Hunts-Roberts concluded. “It’s been a real pleasure to coach these girls this season and see all of their growth and we’re hoping to take this thing as far as we can.”
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