2A championship: St. Joseph loses 2-0 to region rival Rowland Hall, ends season 16-2
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- Rowland Hall goalkeeper Sam Andrew walks over to St. Joseph Catholic High forward Ricky Aparicio after St. Joseph lost 2-0 to Rowland Hall in the 2A boys soccer state championship game at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
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- St. Joseph Catholic High defender Armando Escobedo holds the 2A boys soccer runner-up trophy after the Jayhawks lost 2-0 to Rowland Hall in the state championship game Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
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- St. Joseph Catholic High’s boys soccer teams walks onto the field before the 2A state championship game against Rowland Hall on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
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- St. Joseph Catholic High’s Matthew Gough prepares to pass the ball during the 2A boys soccer state championship game against Rowland Hall on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
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- St. Joseph Catholic High’s boys soccer team gathers before the 2A state soccer championship game against Rowland Hall on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, at Rio Tinto Stadium.
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- Rowland Hall soccer players, left, celebrate a goal in the 2A boys soccer state championship game against St. Joseph Catholic High on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
SANDY — In the regular season, St. Joseph Catholic High’s boys soccer team beat Rowland Hall twice by scores of 1-0.
The wins ensured that the Jayhawks won the 2A North region championship. But the 2A state championship eluded St. Joseph in a 2-0 loss Wednesday at the hands of the same Rowland Hall team the Jayhawks beat in the regular season.
The coaching cliché goes something like, ‘it’s hard to beat a team three times in the same season.’ More often than not in Utah high school soccer, a team actually does beat the same team three times in the same year.
Wednesday was not one of those times.
“I mean, we had a good season, but today’s game didn’t show that, I feel like,” St. Joseph senior midfielder Jonathan Ramirez said. “We didn’t get what we didn’t work for. We could’ve done a lot differently, played a lot better. We didn’t show that today and the result shows it.”
St. Joseph (16-2) coach Paulo Franco said the team was nervous. Both Ramirez and senior defender Armando Escobedo agreed. Wednesday was the biggest stage this Jayhawks team has ever played on.
“I honestly feel that our team, we got too much nervous. It’s a final, you know, and it happens — especially playing here in a big stadium,” Franco said. “They played tougher than us.”
The first Rowland Hall goal came in the 32nd minute when Luke Muhlestein converted a penalty kick after St. Joseph was called for hand ball.
The Winged Lions’ second, and effectively game-ending, goal came with 2 minutes left when Zach Baughman tried a cross from the right side of the field and the ball floated into the opposite top corner.
“In the first half we were playing like we were panicked, like we didn’t know how to play. That set the whole tempo for the rest of the game,” Ramirez said.
St. Joseph had several corner kicks throughout the game but couldn’t fashion a good scoring chance out of any of them.
Edward Ramirez had the team’s best chance in the 67th minute when Rowland Hall goalkeeper Sam Andrew spilled a cross in the box, leaving Edward with about a half-second to shoot at an open net, and the shot hooked wide.
“Hard-fought game. It’s always sad to lose in the finals, but I’m happy I got to experience this season with these boys,” Escobedo said. “We played well all season, I don’t think we should be too upset over one loss. We did what not a lot can do,” Escobedo said.
Wednesday’s final was also marked by a revolving door of injures for St. Joseph players. First, Jonathan Ramirez was off the field the first few minutes of the game, then forward Daniel Fontes left in the first half with an apparent injury.
Jonathan Ramirez injured his ankle, the same one that he sprained earlier this year that kept him out of St. Joseph’s second-round playoff game, and had to be helped to the bench by a coach.
By the time they got done walking around the field to the Jayhawks’ bench, the trainers were out to tend to Felipe Maia, who was literally carried off the field.
After the game, a coach carried Jonathan Ramirez over to the St. Joseph fan section where the team took pictures with the runner-up trophy.
“I think our season was awesome,” Jonathan Ramirez said. “I had a lot of fun with these boys. It was a different experience, definitely having different players, it was fun, it was good. There’s a lot of smiles, there’s a lot of laughs and right now there’s a lot of tears, but have to remember the good and bad, too.”