HERRIMAN — Abby Gough entered Thursday morning’s 2A girls soccer state semifinal against No. 1 Parowan as the state’s top scorer with 37 goals.

The St. Joseph Catholic High junior forward had a wrap on her left hamstring and said she was playing at about “80%.” But goalscorers as prolific as Gough tend to score no matter what.

In the 61st minute, Gough roped in a 21-yard free kick to break a scoreless draw and send No. 5 St. Joseph on its way to a satisfying, 2-0 win over the Rams at Zions Bank Stadium and a second straight appearance in the 2A state title game.

Sophomore Sofia Evans, who’d routinely drawn two or three Parowan defenders whenever she had the ball, was fouled just outside the 18-yard box and Gough set up for a free kick. She hit it low and to the left side, watched her 38th goal of the season go in and sprinted to the sideline to celebrate.

“I saw that their wall was slightly, yeah, to the right and I saw that angle and I just said a prayer and shot it there and it went in. It was a great feeling,” Gough said.

St. Joseph had a lot of chances but, as head coach Tom Evans noted, they were tough chances or half-chances. The Jayhawks had a first-half goal disallowed for offside and Gough also hit the post with a volley from a corner kick in the second half.

After Gough’s goal, St. Joseph had two players yellow-carded for hard fouls and also had a chance from a corner kick. But Gough’s goal was a backbreaker for a top-seeded Parowan team that played well.

“They’re physical, they proved that. They were very organized defensively, they played five back on us, I think they had a pretty good idea on who our two or three good players — not necessarily good players, but attacking players, and kind of really had a game plan against them,” Tom Evans said.

In the 75th minute, the Jayhawks (11-6) wrapped things up. Sofia Evans made it 2-0, and scored her 28th goal of the year, with a shot from the left side that the Parowan keeper misplayed.

“It was a great win. I’m so proud of the team, everyone played amazing and I just can’t wait to see what we do next game,” Gough said.

Thursday’s win was St. Joseph’s sixth straight. It won four of the first five games this season, then had two region losses by one goal each against Rowland Hall (5-4) and Waterford (3-2).

“This year, we had tons of injuries. We just got healthy maybe three weeks ago and so we’re playing our best soccer right now, honestly,” Tom Evans said. “It’s just kind of taken 6-8 weeks to get to where we are now.”

Speaking of Rowland Hall, St. Joseph will face the Winged Lions in Saturday’s championship game. That’s scheduled for 5 p.m. at America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium) in Sandy.

The Winged Lions beat Waterford 3-2 in extra time in Thursday afternoon’s other 2A semifinal. St. Joseph lost 2-1 to Rowland Hall in last year’s 2A championship game.

The Jayhawks’ win over Parowan also ensured that a private school will win the 2A girls soccer championship for the eighth year in a row.

That’s been a point of contention from Parowan High officials over the last year, as they’ve lobbied the UHSAA in public realignment meetings last year and in letters sent behind the scenes to create a sports classification consisting only of private schools, citing competitive equity differences between 2A public and private schools, particularly in soccer.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

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