Boys soccer: Growing pains continue for St. Joseph in home shutout to Maeser Prep
With limited experience back, the Jayhawks are sailing choppy waters to begin second season under coach David Newman
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- St. Joseph’s Sebastian Fiederer, right, fires a shot beyond Maeser Prep defenders Advalt Joshi (8) and Seth Johnson (20) during a nonregion boys soccer match on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at St. Joseph Catholic High School in Ogden.
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- St. Joseph’s Alex Hernandez, right, boots the ball away from Maeser Prep’s Vaughn Fick, left, during a nonregion boys soccer match on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at St. Joseph Catholic High School in Ogden.
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- St. Joseph’s Felipe Uribe takes flight for a high-flying shot from Maeser Prep during a nonregion boys soccer match on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at St. Joseph Catholic High School in Ogden.
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- St. Joseph coach David Newman encourages his team from the sideline during a nonregion boys soccer match against Maeser Prep on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at St. Joseph Catholic High School in Ogden.
OGDEN — The St. Joseph boys soccer team is off to a rockier start than it’d prefer three matches into the regular season.
Defending 2A state champion Maeser Prep handed down the Jayhawks’ second consecutive loss, a 5-0 shutout at home, to begin the season 1-3 after another second-half collapse on Thursday afternoon.
Tied at the half, Maeser (5-0) produced three different goals between Denzel Sono-Koree and Donnell Sono-Koree in as little as 19 minutes to put the Jayhawks (1-3) and senior goalkeeper Felipen Uribe on the hot seat.
Tyler Reedy and Donnell Sono-Koree added two more goals inside the final 12 minutes of the match to complete the shutout, and an exhausted, defeated Jayhawks squad could finally rest from the downpour.
With little depth, St. Joseph is traversing the second half with guys who’re seeing near-nonstop action for 30-plus minutes each half. Senior captain and forward Sebastian Fiederer is one of those names that rarely leave the field.
“A lot of these players have never seen the pitch before,” Fiederer said. “I think that’s the biggest hump we need to overcome, it’s learning to control the game. There are some kids that’ll always play minutes — they’ll play the whole game, and there’s no way around that.”
In his second season as coach, David Newman, who also serves as the head girls soccer coach at 5A Woods Cross in the fall, is tasked with guiding a mixed back of talented returners and eager newcomers in the season ahead.
While familiar faces — forward Alex Hernandez, defender Quinn Cousineau, and midfielder Brocker Smith — are back to lead St. Joseph, the group’s razor-thin margin for injury worries Newman every week. The Jayhawks are comprised of just 16 players again this season.
“My legitimate worry is when the injuries come,” Newman said. “We did nothing (Wednesday) other than a recovery session because it’s all we can do because you can’t go hard; there’s nothing much you can do.”
Missing from the Jayhawks this season is All-Area midfielder Daniel Fontes, who tallied 74 career goals during his St. Joseph career while helping last year’s 9-5 team reach the state semifinals.
While Fiederer and his fellow seniors hope to carry his torch, there’s a level of experience the Jayhawks simply can’t replicate overnight.
“He was not only a leader on the field, but he was a positive impact and a great player,” Fiederer said of Fontes. “I think there’s a transitional period, and we’re still in that (period), but it’s just a learning experience.”
Instead, the Jayhawks are addressing their starting 11 like a chemistry set: carefully studying and experimenting with what’s in front of them.
With one win on the board, an 8-3 home win over Utah Military Academy-Hill Field to begin the regular season, the Jayhawks are still a work in progress as the team reels from two losses against two of the classification’s top squads.
It’s only March, and it’s unfair to judge St. Joseph in its infancy. But to that end, the Jayhawks are only what they make of themselves following a disastrous finish to the team’s region opener to end the week.
“It’s difficult bringing in a lot of young players,” Fiederer said. “This kind of acts as our preseason almost, where we’re figuring things out, testing new things, putting different players in different positions (and) see what that gives us. I think from here, it really just becomes about what works.”
With another home bout with Draper APA slated for 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, the Jayhawks enjoy a lengthy break before regrouping for their next chance at rejoining the win column. Thursday was both a step forward and a step backward, Newman said, and he’s hoping their next step includes a victory.
“Our first half was a huge improvement from how we played on Tuesday,” Newman said. “But you saw what happened in the second half. It just went south, but we’ve gotta just keep working, right? Just keep working, try and keep people fit, keep people cheerful and we’ll see where we end up.”
Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
