Girls soccer: Injury-plagued Clearfield survives Bonneville, wins 4th straight
Falcons celebrate PK shootout victory twice
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- Clearfield’s Claire Hadley (12) strikes the ball as Bonneville’s Miley Falk (31) tries to block it on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville’s Kambry Dalton (16) races up field with the ball as Clearfield’s Raegan Cornell (15) pursues on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield’s Emmery Johnson (9) advances the ball past Bonneville’s Stacey Tesch (5) on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville keeper Lily Atkinson tracks the ball in a match against Clearfield on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield’s Danica Fox (14) turns to challenge Bonneville’s Kambry Dalton, right, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville’s Maggie Anderson kicks to control the ball against Clearfield on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield’s Emery Berg (7) watches the ball as Bonneville’s Hallie Nelson (3) pursues on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville’s Meili Larsen (4) handles the ball in a match against Clearfield on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville’s Kambry Dalton (16) tries to maneuver around Clearfield’s Claire Hadley (12) on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfiel’s Kamryn Weaver strikes the ball in a match against Bonneville on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Clearfield.
CLEARFIELD — The official blew the whistle and pointed to the middle of the field as if the Clearfield girls soccer team had just won the penalty kick shootout against Bonneville, but it wasn’t actually over yet.
The Falcons were ahead 3-1 after having just converted a kick in the fourth round, but the Lakers still had yet to take their fourth-round kick.
The Clearfield players, who were excitedly celebrating near the goal, had to be broken up and sent back to the middle of the field.
After a successful Lakers kick cut the Falcons’ advantage to 3-2, sophomore Claire Hadley walked up to take her kick and made it. This time, her teammates could celebrate uninterrupted as Clearfield defeated Bonneville 4-2 on Tuesday after the two teams played to a 1-1 draw in regulation and two periods of extra time.
“It’d be embarrassing if we didn’t finish, so I just went up and didn’t even look at the goal,” Hadley admitted. “Just picked my head up, shot and put it in the corner.”
The shootout started out well for both teams as Clearfield junior Kamryn Weaver and Bonneville senior Meili Larsen each buried the first kicks for their respective teams. Falcons junior Addie Mosley then gave her team a 2-1 lead before Clearfield senior goalkeeper Sadie Goble and Bonneville sophomore goalkeeper Lily Atkinson combined to block three consecutive shots.
Falcons sophomore Carlie Hobbs scored in the fourth round to give her team a 3-1 lead and the premature celebration ensued. After the Clearfield players were sent back to the middle, Bonneville junior Lily Robertson sent the shootout to the fifth round before Hadley finally ended it.
With the win, Clearfield (6-3, 5-1 Region 5) has won four straight and six of seven since starting the season with a pair of losses to Green Canyon and Ogden.
Falcons coach Kelly Parke said his team just wasn’t ready at the beginning of the season.
“It takes a little while to implement our system,” he said. “And I scheduled two state champions right off the bat on purpose because I want to play against teams that play fast, and get used to that speed.”
Despite early-season difficulties, Parke said he learned that his team had bought in.
“I warned them that we were up against it, but those were really good teams we were playing and I wasn’t worried about outcomes at all,” he said. “They should be, but I’m not, and I didn’t coach for outcomes. And they played for outcomes, so it’s all good.”
Injuries have plagued Clearfield so far this season. Parke noted that four or five girls have started who he didn’t necessarily expect to be starting a week and a half ago. Two injured Falcons had to be helped off the field during Tuesday’s game.
“I’m just happy to get out of (this game) with a win,” Parke acknowledged. “We’re very shorthanded, and it’s almost all of the attacking players that were starting at the start of the year (who) are all out. Not our best game, but definitely not our worst game either. Anytime you play OK and win, it’s pretty good, I guess.”
Parke is optimistic that his injured players will be able to return this season, most of them within the next week or two.
Clearfield took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute on a goal by senior Emery Berg off a corner kick by Weaver.
“We did our normal corner kick that we usually like to go to and our coach told us if we get the opportunity for a 50-50 goal just to put everything you have (into it), so I saw the ball coming in and I just finished on it, capitalized on that,” Berg said.
The score stayed that way until the 61st minute when Larsen sent one soaring into the net from about 25 yards out to equalize for Bonneville (5-3, 3-3 Region 5).
Neither team did much to threaten the rest of the way.
“Good, hard-fought game,” Bonneville coach Brady Nicholls said. “I was really anticipating this game because (it was) two of the top teams in our region. Hopefully we’re both playing long into the playoffs, so I knew it was going to be a hard game and it lived up to every bit of it, really.”
Nicholls likes what his team is capable of as long as it passes.
“I feel like we can pass as good as anyone in the state when we do it,” he said. “We just can’t go away from it.”
Nicholls said he’s excited about his team’s potential.
“Honestly, I think the sky’s the limit for this team,” he said. “We were picked to do nothing and that’s what we’re doing is trying to prove everybody wrong.”
Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.
