‘Cat and mouse’: Like Houdini, West Field clears Box Elder in soccer postseason opener
No. 12 Longhorns corner No. 5 Bees 4-3 on penalty kicks in first round of 5A girls soccer tourney
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- West Field’s Sadie Wiseman, left, collides with Box Elder’s Taylor Nye during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- Box Elder leaves the field disappointed with a final look at the net before the end of the first half during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- West Field’s Marissa Hatch, left, races past Box Elder’s Kya Shupe, right, during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- Box Elder coach Kurt Jarman disputes a penalty with an official during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- Box Elder’s Marley Barber calls out to her teammates during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- West Field’s Marley Cloward and Madison Webster track down Box Elder’s Brooklyn Nelson, center, during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- West Field’s Landry VonBurg rips the ball upfield during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- Box Elder’s Hope Page, left, closes in on West Field’s Harlie Slaughter, center, during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- West Field coach Cade Miller calls to the field during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
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- Box Elder’s Mia Page boots the ball upfield during the first round of the 5A girls soccer state playoffs at Box Elder High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Brigham City. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner).
BRIGHAM CITY — While Box Elder, the No. 5 seed in the 5A state girls soccer playoffs, prematurely celebrated Taylor Nye’s goal with 2 minutes left in regulation, West Field goalkeeper Harlie Slaughter herded the No. 12-seeded Longhorns back upfield.
It’d appeared the Bees had finally pinned one on Slaughter in Tuesday’s first-round playoff bout.
Moments later, officials handed Box Elder coach Kurt Jarman a yellow card as the program’s seventh-year manager contended with an offside penalty canceling Nye’s score and reviving a scoreless match for two overtime periods.
Penalty kicks soon rocked the hive for good, sending the Longhorns along and ending the Bees’ season.
The contentious penalty signaled something to her offense, Slaughter said, and West Field backed it up with two strong chances off the boots of Julia Robbins and Marissa Hatch in overtime.
“For us, it was a wake-up call,” said Slaughter, who held on for the 4-3 victory in penalty kicks. “We were like, ‘Hey, we need to pull this thing together.”
West Field, the No. 12 seed, travels to No. 4 Brighton in the 5A quarterfinals, scheduled for Thursday at home sites.
By the time the second scoreless overtime ended, cold rain and wind moved into the picture and painted quite the scene as the Longhorns celebrated another morale booster on the back end of one of the wettest weeks in the state’s history.
West Field braced for the elements by practicing in the rain on Monday, Slaughter said.
“It’s just the same thing; we know we have to win,” Slaughter said. “We’ve been working hard all year, and we’re not ready for our season to be over.”
“I thought we had a really good game plan and I thought the girls executed it very well,” Miller added. “You start to learn (opposing) players, and you know how they play. It’s a little like a chess match. We worked all week to fix things that we could take advantage of, and we knew they’d be doing the same against us, so it’s like the cat and mouse of can we improve to be better?”
“We knew it’d be a good game.”
A week earlier, West Field (10-3) traveled roughly a half hour to Box Elder (10-3), which sought to release itself from the responsibility of sharing a Region 5 regular-season title with Bonneville. Quincey Nelson scored in overtime for West Field to force Box Elder into a shared-title scenario.
This week, the Longhorns received the No. 12 seed and a region rematch in the opening round of the 5A state playoffs. West Field returned with an opportunity to prove it belonged, Slaughter said.
Slaughter, a captain and general of West Field’s back line, left Tuesday’s match especially impressed with her center backs, Kambry Nelson and Sadie Wiseman.
“We came into this fighting hard; we knew what we had to do,” Slaughter said. “We were prepared to go into (penalty kicks). They’re a really good team, but in the end, we knew we had to win it.”
Box Elder, even after a questionable offsides call from Jarman’s perspective, found its share of opportunity in extra time, including two free kicks by Milley Barber. Following each of her triplets in the shootout, the third Barber couldn’t sneak one past Slaughter when it counted most.
Her sister, Marley Barber, set Nye up with another golden opportunity in the first overtime period; Marley herself tried and missed another short-range look at Slaughter in the second overtime.
Jarman quickly chose “heart” when asked how he’d condense the blood, sweat, and tears of his team, which features four departing seniors, down to a single term.
“I’m heartbroken for our seniors and all the girls that put the work in all year long,” Jarman said. “To decide a game in (penalty kicks), it’s a coin toss.”
Connect with Standard-Examiner sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram @standardexaminersports.
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