Back-to-back? Ogden bound for girls soccer state final with top seed Manti
Wind, rain, and a 2-1 victory for No. 2 Ogden over No. 6 Morgan in the 3A state semifinals
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- Ogden celebrates its win over Morgan at the 3A girls soccer state semifinals with Ogden High on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner)
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- Morgan celebrates a goal during the 3A girls soccer state semifinals with Ogden High on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner)
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- Morgan students celebrate a goal during the 3A girls soccer state semifinals with Ogden High on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. (CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner)
HERRIMAN — It’s only appropriate that the cold, unrelenting rain that shaped Thursday’s 3A girls soccer semifinal between Ogden and Morgan cleared shortly after Alondra Ayala and the No. 2 Tigers carved out the answer they’d been searching for the entire second half.
Drenched from kickoff, defending 3A champion Ogden emptied its sideline onto the similarly soggy pitch at Zions Bank Stadium, celebrating a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Morgan for an eighth consecutive trip to the state finals, which comes Saturday against No. 1 Manti.
Connecting on a pass late, Ayala and Baylor commit Elle Weston pieced together the go-ahead goal just after they shared a moment with head coach Alexis King on the sideline.
“Do you guys want to score?” King asked her upperclassmen. “Because I need somebody who wants to score — right now.”
The goal represented the end to a sluggish second half that appeared bound for overtime. Ogden (14-6) and Morgan (11-7) have become a bit of a 3A postseason classic, with now six postseason meetings, including three in state title games, dating back to 2021.
“I kind of told the girls even yesterday, ‘Pretend we’re not even playing Morgan,'” King said. “I don’t want you guys to like get in your head because it’s Morgan.”
Morgan defeated Ogden 2-1 for the 3A title in 2024, but has lost six consecutive matches to the Tigers following Thursday’s loss.
Morgan, which dropped both of its regular-season Ogden meetings by two goals or fewer, recovered from a 1-0 deficit in the first half. The Trojans worked against the rain amid Gwenyth Aardema’s match-opening goal, assisted by Bryleigh Thomas, with 22 minutes left in the period to put Ogden in front.
Warm and ready after the half, sophomore Monea Whimpey netted the tying goal quickly out of the break for Morgan, who seized an Ogden defensive error for the opportunity.
The same advantage that benefited Ogden now favored the Trojans — and quickly, too.
“It definitely helped us win the (east side) that we wanted because the wind was blowing that way,” King said. “The wind was kind of pelting; it hurt, so we didn’t want them running straight into it and it hitting them in the face. I was happy we won the coin toss and got the side we wanted.
“And also, just playing smart. We talked about not playing back to our keeper, just in case the ball slips; it’s slippery. We like to use our keeper a lot, but we talked about this two days ago: if it rains, we’re not playing to our keeper.”
Playing conservatively on the back end, Ogden searched for an answer up top throughout much of a largely scoreless second half. Outside of a Weston shot on goal (at 31:00), the Tigers rarely threatened Morgan sophomore goalkeeper Eve Sandoval as they did in the first half.
“It felt like our forwards, and even our midfielders, they weren’t getting in the attack,” King said. “We have to want to win the ball and want to take those shots.”
Ogden spent last week practicing in similar conditions when a tropical storm system hit the state. It was a climate the Tigers were prepared to leave the den for Thursday.
“It means everything,” King said. “I told them, ‘Let’s go out and be confident. You guys have done all the work.’ We’ve had hard practices in the rain to prepare for this moment, and they brought their confidence today, and they ended up finishing out the game.”
Headed for the finals, Ogden, owners of six all-time state titles, is looking for repeat championships this weekend for the first time in school history.
Ogden and Manti decide the 3A state champion at 11 a.m. Saturday at Zions Bank Stadium.
Connect with Standard-Examiner sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram @standardexaminersports.
