Evans leads thin St. Joseph girls soccer roster rise above Maeser Prep for weekend boost
Senior striker keying Jayhawks as region timetable wanes
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- St. Joseph’s Sofia Evans, middle, dribbles through Maeser’s Gianna Capella, left, and during a region girls soccer contest on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Ogden.
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- Maeser’s Cami Simmons looks over St. Joseph’s Ari Bond, right, during a region girls soccer contest on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Ogden.
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- Maeser’s Deborah Chavez and Samira Sosa, right, close in on St. Joseph’s Sophia Fendrick during a region girls soccer contest on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Ogden.
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- Maeser’s Jesenia Peterson, right, tracks St. Joseph’s Ashley Fergus during a region girls soccer contest on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Ogden.
OGDEN — Even three years after the fact, St. Joseph senior Sofia Evans can vividly recall when the rivalry between Maeser Prep and the Jayhawks sparked into something more.
A collision along the back line left St. Joseph’s then-starting centerback unavailable for two matches due to injury, and that particular injury left an imprint on five current Jayhawk seniors, leading their side to a seventh consecutive win over the Lions 5-2 in a Thursday home match.
Evans scored four consecutive Jayhawk goals in what may be her final match against Maeser (7-5, 2-3 Region 17), barring an all-too-possible postseason rematch.
Coming off a 4-0 shutout at Waterford on Tuesday, St. Joseph (5-4, 2-2) returning to form is a welcome end to the week for Evans and co.
“When they cheer, you can tell it’s personal,” Evans said. “They’re screaming your name, screaming something, which is super cool. It’s just been really cool being in this community, and everyone just kind of raises the level for each other.”
Region foes since 2021, St. Joseph defended its end of the feud on Thursday after a 2-2 stalemate at the half.
Senior Ari Bond opened the scoring, sliding her first left of the goalkeeper just three minutes into the match. Evans later regained the lead 2-1 with 18 minutes left in the half, and Maeser senior Caitlyn Herbert evened the board with 4 minutes to go.
Evan scored three more times in the second half, assisted by Bond twice, to complete the one-half hat trick and gain her fourth for the haul. The dominant finish casts a shadow over last year’s heated 2A state quarterfinal finish, favoring the Jayhawks 3-2 ahead of their semifinal exit in Herriman.
Participation has dropped to just 15 players this fall, with five of St. Joseph’s seniors carving out their own tale with an excess of bench space. Dislocated shoulders, concussion scares — they’ve hit the program hard in recent weeks.
“Last week, we played Waterford with 13 (players), which is ridiculous,” Evans said. “That’s like the minimum you can have.
“The way this team’s stepped up, with all the underclassmen and inexperienced players, we’ve kicked it into gear for sure,” Evans said. “Everyone steps up for each other, and I think you saw that today. We had a couple of injuries in the box, and everyone’s around them, trying to stop the play. The culture, the attitude, and the way we’re playing is amazing right now.”
Everything counts with just five region matches remaining, and Evans can speak directly to just how many girls have stepped up over the past few weeks. Evans lauded her starting centerback, Anna Lynn Norman, for leading a fluid, platoon-style defense that’s leaning on another sophomore, Addison Doebler, in goal.
“The speed of play and intensity, especially playing against a team like this, definitely takes some getting used to,” Evans said. “In the second half, for sure, we started getting used to the pace of play, you saw players coming out a little bit less, and as the season progresses you’ll see a little bit less subbing as we get kind of used to that speed of play.”
Two key region opponents — Rowland Hall and Maeser — now sit in the distance on St. Joseph’s regular-season calendar, and a tune-up opportunity awaits against 0-10 North Summit on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at home.
Two days later, St. Joseph travels to American Leadership Academy, 8-3 overall and behind Waterford in the region standings at 3-2, next Thursday, Sept. 25. Splitting this week’s matches, the Jayhawks are seated well in the race for a first-round bye.
Tom Evans has now shaped four different Jayhawk rosters during his time as coach in Ogden, and his latest is rolling with the punches week to week.
“As a coach, it’s a lot of fun,” Tom Evans said. “Every year, you think I’m going to have all these girls coming back, and inevitably two or three of them transfer. … To get this one coming off the loss to Waterford and the loss to American Heritage, was huge. I think it kind of puts us kind of right in that like, 2-4 range, and the top four get bye … that’s the goal every year.”
Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
