Girls soccer: Ogden follows runner-up finish with 2-1 opening loss to Woods Cross
Ben Lomond, Morgan and Ogden have all opened the season 0-1 in non-region play
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- Left to right: Ogden’s Evalyn Farka, Stella Gonzalez and Arianna Jorgensen walk off the field during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Seren Gee (black, 17) dribbles between Woods Cross’ Aileen Lopez (white, 30) and Joss Buswell (white, 32) during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden coach Alexis King instructs from the sideline during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Elle Weston (black, 2) swipes possession from Woods Cross’ Lucy Bahr during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Whitney Fife comes up with a save during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Bryleigh Thomas (black, 30) races past Woods Cross’ Noemi Pineda (white, 7) and Aileen Lopez (white, 30) during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Bryleigh Thomas steers around a defender during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Megan Beus dribbles forward during a non-region girls soccer contest vs. Woods Cross on Aug. 6, 2025, at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex in Ogden.
OGDEN — All but one Region 13 girls soccer program entered Thursday 0-1 to begin the non-region slate, including defending 3A state champion Morgan and runner-up Ogden.
The Tigers followed Ben Lomond and Morgan into the loss column on Wednesday night, chalking up a 2-1 defeat to Woods Cross in their home opener.
Even with four returning seniors, Ogden felt the absence of its previous seven seniors throughout the first half of Wednesday’s match. The reconfiguration of the Tigers’ attack line, and a freshman newcomer, Whitney Fife, in goal, made for a true opening-night challenge.
Woods Cross senior Nyxon Milliron and junior Clara Howes fired two unanswered goals past Fife, each 4 minutes apart in the first half as Ogden looked to sure up what second-year Ogden coach Alexis King considers “defensive shaping issues” that left the Tigers vulnerable through the first 20 minutes of play.
Fife finished the first half spotless and went on to register four saves between WX’s second goal and the remainder of the match.
“That’s something we’ve worked on, but just haven’t had enough time to keep up working on,” King said of her defense. “With Whitney, a freshman, one of our biggest things right now is helping her build her confidence. The two goals in the first half were unfortunate, but that’s part of the game, and we played an even better second half. I’m proud of them for that, coming back, staying resilient, and just continuing to get better and performing at a high level.”
Ogden junior Elle Weston bought one of those goals back, seizing an assist from senior Capri Colvin for her team’s lone goal, coming just 2 minutes into the second half. It’d become one of several second-half looks, including a just-shy 20-yarder by Paislee Pierce and a near-goal off Weston’s boot with 13 minutes left.
Still down 2-1 late, Fife made a crucial save with eight minutes to go, and junior Ariana Jorgensen broke up a dicey cross by the WX attack mere minutes later. Ogden ultimately came up short, but slow starts have hardly stopped Tigers teams as of late.
Last season, Ogden finished the month of August 2-6 and flipped the script for a 9-1 region run and trip to the state championship match. Returning seniors Colvin, Alina Aparicio, Megan Beus and Lily Gallegos are each plenty familiar with the story.
Many of that team’s key contributors have graduated, including 2024 All-Area Player of the Year Kate Pulley and All-State goalkeeper Grace Malan, but Weston makes the case that last year’s finish only ups the urgency this time around.
“We’re definitely going to step it up because of that,” Weston said. “We have a really great environment. I think we just keep working on our environment, just having fun and working hard, and we’ll do really well this season.”
Searching for its first win, Ogden hosts Manti in another non-region faceoff Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the Spence Eccles Ogden Community Sports Complex.
Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
