Sky View girls soccer holds off Box Elder, 3-2

<strong>SMITHFIELD—</strong> The Sky View girl’s soccer team put the hurt on early against region rival Box Elder, and held on for the 3-2 win.

The Bobcats put up all three goals in the first half on their way to the victory. The third time was the charm on the first goal, after two botched corner kicks. Sky View’s Kylee Villanueva kicked it from the corner to senior McKenley Hellstern for the header goal in the fourth minute.

“This was a really, really big outcome for us,” Sky View head coach Doyle Geddes said. “We needed the three points before we started the second half of region against a quality opponent. I just loved the way this game went. It was a heart attack, but we survived it.”

Box Elder’s conservative play and packed in defense was no problem for sophomore Madison Siddoway, who drove through the defense to find the back of the net in the 12th minute to go up 2-0.

“She (Siddoway) did a really nice job of keeping the ball settled,” Geddes said. “And then finding the release passes out of the middle and getting a few shots of her own, and her goal was just beautiful.”

Set plays were key to the Bobcat’s offense as sophomore Jordyn Brown scored off another corner kick in the 26th minute.

Sky View controlled the ball for the majority of the first half not allowing a shot-on-goal until the 30th minute. Box Elder scored on a very well placed penalty kick that was just out of reach for goalie Kylee Hellstern. Box Elder stepped up its offense and was on the strike again. This time Hellstern didn’t let anything past her making a great diving save on a Bees’ breakaway to end the half.

“I just loved our energy early on, I loved the way we were connecting. We put on three nice goals that were the product of connecting and moving the ball up to people really well,” Geddes said. “They were all assisted goals as well, and at that point I thought, ‘Hey we’re going to put on five or six and walk out of here with a freebie,’ but Box Elder proved they don’t give up.”

After going up 3-0, Sky View had a hard time mentally staying in the game. The Bobcats left the door open for a fighting Box Elder team, and gave up a second goal in the 42nd minute.

“It’s just the way they are,” Geddes said. “Box Elder looks to the second half, and they have no problems sitting on their heels a little bit because they know they’ll come at you.”

With the lead cut to only one Sky View snapped back into the game, relying on its defense to hold off Box Elder. The Bees had one last shot at tying the game with a corner kick, but that was stopped by the Bobcatss defense.

“I think we played really well tonight. We came out really tough and we had a really good first half. Everyone was really believing in it, and knocking the ball around and playing hard out there,” Siddoway said. “They just came out really tough in the second half and we were up by a lot and we kind of mentally checked out. It was tough, they got some goals on us but we fought it out till the end. I love the girls I play with.” 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!