No drama this time: Mountain View girls soccer rolls past Provo in 4A first round
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- Mountain View players congratulate senior forward Lucy Konold (center) after she scored a goal during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View senior Ashley Hamblin traps the ball during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View senior Ashley Hamblin heads the ball during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Provo sophomore Monica Rodriquez kicks the ball during the 4A first round game against Mountain View in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View junior Isabelle Bramble (2) gets encouraged by freshman Channing Peterson after having a shot go just wide during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View junior Isabelle Bramble traps the ball during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- A Provo player traps the ball during the 4A first round game against Mountain View in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Provo senior Kayla Stoddard holds off a defender during the 4A first round game against Mountain View in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Provo sophomore Asha Aletto pushes the ball out on a corner kick during the 4A first round game against Mountain View in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View players congratulate senior Makenna Grimley (12) after she scored on a penalty kick during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View senior Ashley Hamblin tries to get past a Provo defender during the 4A first round game in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Mountain View senior Lucy Konold heads the ball during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- A Mountain View player brings down the ball during the 4A first round game against Provo in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
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- Provo senior Eleanor Reynolds (14) kicks the ball during the 4A first round game against Mountain View in Orem on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
On paper, the No. 9-seeded team in the 4A state girls soccer tournament has a big advantage over its first-round opponent, the No. 24-seeded team.
But dig a little deeper and it was clear that the two teams in this year’s all-Region 8 matchup to start the playoffs had been a lot more evenly matched than that.
Yes, Mountain View (the No. 9 seed) had defeated Provo in both league showdowns — but both had been tied at the end of regulation and the Bruins had been forced to edge the Bulldogs in penalty-kick shootouts.
Would this be the time that the underdogs — playing with nothing to lose — finally stunned the favorites?
Mountain View head coach Terrika Turner said her squad was very aware of the danger they faced.
“I think we knew what we were up against,” Turner said. “We practiced the things we needed to better and places we could’ve improved. We just played them last week, so we knew what we were were working agains. We knew we needed to get the ball into the net. And they made it happen.”
It was the Bruins who changed the script from the earlier meetings, getting a pair of goals from senior Lucy Konold to roll to the 3-1 victory over Provo and advance to the next round.
“It felt really good to get the win,” Konold said. “I felt like our energy was up a lot more than it was in the past games. It felt good to get out there and get some goals this time.”
She said she was proud of how her team performed and kept the Bulldogs at bay.
“When we are playing as a team, we are all communicating,” Konold said. “It’s great when everyone on the whole team is hyping each other up.”
Mountain View controlled the game basically from the start, rarely letting Provo get the ball into dangerous positions.
“We have a really solid backline,” Turner said. “I’ve really enjoyed coaching them. Today we ended up putting one of our defenders up at forward, knowing we needed to score. But our other defenders got it together and kept everything united.”
It took almost half of the first half for the Bruins to turn that into a lead on the scoreboard, with Konold putting her team in front.
“We have been working on getting the ball to the end line, then cutting it back,” Konold said. “That’s what we did there. (Bruin senior Makenna Grimley slotted it back and although it rebounded off the keeper, I was just able to finish. It felt amazing.”
Mountain View doubled the advantage right before the break when senior Ashley Hamblin — the defender who was playing up top — make a hard run into the box from the outside and got clipped, drawing a penalty kick.
Grimley calmly buried the shot inside the right post to give the home team all the momentum heading into halftime.
“We were definitely able to come out in the second half with a lot of confidence,” Turner said. “We had this cushion, so it made it feel like we could come out and attack. 1-0 would’ve been a little more stressful but being up 2-0 really changed how we played.”
Konold ended up getting the only goal of the second half, one she called “the easiest” she’s ever had.
That was because Mountain View sophomore Cali Willis drilled a great shot that got past the diving Bulldog keeper and hit the post, bouncing right to where Konold was coming in with a completely empty net.
“It’s always going through your mind that you might mis-hit it, but you just have to get over it,” Konold said.
Provo never gave up but couldn’t find a way to crack the Bruin defense until the 75th minute, when Bulldog senior Kayla Stoddard blasted a beautiful strike from the right side.
Provo ran out of time, however, and Mountain View secured its spot in the second round, which will take them south to face No. 8-seed Desert Hills.
“We’re excited,” Turner said. “The girls love these long trips but you have to make sure you are awake and ready after you ride the bus for 3.5 hours. We haven’t played them, so we don’t know a ton about them, but I think we are ready. We’ve figured some things out. If we can show up and put the ball in the net early, that will be big. I think the girls are ready to do it.”
The Bruins will face the Thunder in St. George on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m. with a spot in the 4A quarterfinals on the line.
