High school soccer: Lehi defeats Corner Canyon on penalties to remain undefeated

After a scoreless 80 minutes of soccer, undefeated Lehi beat Corner Canyon on penalties 4-3, handing the Chargers their first loss of the season.

It was a game of momentum swings, and it was Lehi that got out on the front foot first. Lehi dominated possession to start the game, with the Pioneers’ best chance coming midway through the half when Olivia Schoenfeld found space at the top of the box and got a decent shot off, but Corner Canyon’s goalie was up to the test and made the save.

“It was as tight as I was expecting it to be,” said Lehi head coach Jonas Hartmann. “I think it was a little bit in waves. We came out strong in the first 20 minutes, then they took over a little bit and I thought we didn’t look as good, then we picked it up again halfway through overtime.

“Corner Canyon is a very good team, and it was a very good win for us, but it’s almost unfair that somebody had to win this game because it was so even that it could have gone either way.”

Corner Canyon was finally able to get some pressure on the Lehi defense and grabbed the momentum with 20 minutes left in the first half. For the rest of the half, Corner Canyon made the stout Lehi defense bend, but the Pioneers didn’t crack as both teams headed into the halftime break scoreless.

The game remained scoreless the rest of the way, with neither team taking advantage of the few really good opportunities they got.

“Corner Canyon was very physical. We’ve had a couple of games where maybe the tempo wasn’t quite as high as it could have been, so it was a good test for us to go against a good 6A team. They came out really fast, maybe a little faster than I thought they would, which gave us some struggles at times,” Hartmann said.

In penalties, Lehi’s Chelsea Hartman and Adelle Grimley both buried their penalty kicks. Next stepped up Amarie Simmons, but her kick was saved by Corner Canyon’s Haygen Haycock, giving Corner Canyon the upper hand.

Lehi’s goalkeeper Kelsey Badger was up for the challenge, however, saving Corner Canyon’s next two attempts.

On the brink of victory, Kanani Haunga stepped up and calmly converted her kick to keep her team undefeated and prove that Lehi can hang with the best.

“It’s definitely a confidence boost for us,” Hartmann said. “It was a way for us to try against the 6A team. We have played some good teams already, but we haven’t played any 6A teams.

“We knew coming in that we were 4-0 and I told the girls that they had to prove they belonged in the same category as Corner Canyon. Today was a really big test for us to see if we can play with the bigger and better teams and I thought we stepped up.”