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St. Joseph distraught following a goal scored by American Heritage during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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St. Joseph's Anna Lynn Norman, left, and American Heritage's Izzy Steele fly toward the ball during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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St. Joseph's Addison Doebler warms up during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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St. Joseph's Ashley Fergus, left, streaks past American Heritage's Breanne Jensen during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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St. Joseph's Ari Bond, left, celebrates a goal by Sofia Evans, middle, against American Heritage during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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St. Joseph's Sofia Evans steers around a defender during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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St. Joseph coach Tom Evans walks his team through warmups during the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

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HERRIMAN — It’s the end of the road for the state’s single-season goal leader.

With 56 total goals in her senior campaign, Sofia Evans and No. 2 St. Joseph were a goal shy of No. 3 American Heritage 2-1 in the 2A state girls soccer semifinals on Thursday morning at Zions Bank Stadium

Still, the team captain’s memorable season won’t soon be forgotten.

With an early goal in the first half, Puget Sound commit Evans raised her season tally to 56 — officially tying Grantsville alum Whitney Wangsgard (2019) for fourth all-time in the state.

The Jayhawks (12-5) coughed up the lead twice in the first half on Thursday, and shutting out the Patriots (13-6) in the second half simply wasn’t enough for a return to the state championship in Sandy.

It’ll be American Heritage and top seed Waterford contending for the crown on Saturday at America First Field, and the coach-daughter duo of Tom Evans and Sofia Evans comes to an end following three consecutive semifinal appearances and a state runner-up finish in 2023.

“She’s been sort of building towards this and she’s really a team-type player,” Tom Evans said of Sofia. “In years past, she’s had great finishers around her, so she’s kind of found a way to pile up a lot of goals, and a lot of assists as well. We kind of kept that balance but this year we needed goals so she stepped up and went crazy.”

Evans’ 56th goal served as the answer to first goal of the match, scored by Heritage sophomore Izzy Steele, 2 minutes into the contest. The senior striker fought 1-on-2 to cancel an early deficit with 34 minutes still to play.

Doebler denied Steele’s second look at the net for her first save, but Heritage stayed on the attack with a goal from junior Cami Melecio, sneaking one right of St. Joseph sophomore keeper Addison Doebler near the 24-minute mark, for a second Patriots lead.

A third Steele attempt nearly resulted in a third Heritage goal, but her shot, bouncing off the right post and into the path of senior Ainsley Suelzle, narrowly missed the window.

Doebler and Heritage sophomore keeper Brinley Hall each prevailed on late free kicks, taken by Evans and Patriots sophomore Ada Werner, before the second half. Doebler and the Jayhawks’ defense would shut out Heritage through the next 40 minutes through a turbulent finish.

Sophomore Anna Lynn Norman commended Doebler for grasping the keeper role full-time and growing together as a young back line.

“She’s grown a lot throughout the entire season and I’m extremely proud of her and what she’s accomplished,” Lynn Norman said of Doebler.

Sofia Evans, senior forward Ari Bond and junior two-way attacker Brooke Majewski all fit looks in through the first 20 minutes back, but St. Joseph never sniffed the net that closely again, as Heritage practically controlled the field through the next stretch.

The Jayhawks neglected to reward a staunch defensive effort on its limited upfield breaks, Tom Evans said.

“We never really had the opportunity where we could take advantage of that,” Tom Evans said. “They had a good game plan. They man marked our top strikers, so that was hard for us. We just couldn’t break away. Normally, we can get out on the break but they’d take us down, so we just couldn’t get out.”

Heritage wouldn’t profit on its own late onslaught, but a late yellow card against Sofia Evans on the defensive end triggered a slew of criticism from the St. Joseph sideline and crowd.

Tom Evans later received two yellow cards (the equivalent of one red card) after the match went final. He’d later share his perspective, and disappointment, with the officiating. Evans has tallied 11 or more wins in four seasons at St. Joseph, which finished their latest postseason run outscoring opponents 13-3.

“In a referee sense, at some point, it’s persisting and so you get a yellow card and then that sort of tempers that,” Tom Evans. “Well, we were getting fouled all game and the first yellow comes out in the corner with 4 minutes to go and it’s kind of like a kick in the teeth. That’s on me, I lost my composure a little bit — but you can’t blame the referees.”

Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.