High school girls soccer: Morgan, Ogden set for 3A championship rematch after prevailing in semifinals

Here’s a recap of the 3A semifinals at Zions Bank Stadium on Thursday.
No. 4 seed Morgan knocked off top seed Judge Memorial and then No. 6 seed Ogden blanked No. 2 seed Manti.
When Morgan’s Macie Burton put a second-half free kick from about 40 yards out over the crossbar, the senior was noticeably frustrated she didn’t at least test the keeper with the 3A semifinal knotted up 1-1.
In the 73rd minute when she got another opportunity, there was no way she wasn’t going to hit the target.
Burton smashed the free kick into the upper-left corner and in the process sent Morgan to the 3A state championship with the 2-1 victory over previously-unbeaten Judge Memorial at Zions Bank Stadium.
“It was good to get another chance to redeem myself,” smiled Burton after the game.
Morgan was awarded the free kick following a Judge handball about 22 yards from goal on cross toward the box. Burton knew immediately it was her moment to change the game.
“I was just waiting and kind of relaxing myself, trying to get in the right mindset and forget about the last one, and kind of look and see where she put the wall and get focused and put it in,” she said.
After the goal, Morgan’s defense locked things down for the final seven minutes just as it had since letting in a 13th minute goal to clinch its place in the 3A final for the second straight season. It lost to Ogden 3-1 in last year’s title game.
“She’s done that probably four or five times this year. She’s pretty deadly from clear out here. We know who’s taking the shot when we’re in that moment and she does too,” said Morgan coach Bryan Searle, whose team avenged a 3-2 preseason loss to Judge with the win.
Judge Memorial came into the game as the No. 1 seed in the 3A playoffs and a perfect 16-0 record.
The Bulldogs jumped out quick, putting pressure on the backline and eventually scoring as Callie Lipson took advantage of a moment of indecision from Morgan keeper Maddie Fisher at the top of the box for the easy finish in the 13th minute at the 1-0 lead.
Fisher has been Morgan’s back-up keeper late in the season, but when starter Skye Bernardo injured her knee in warmups, Fisher was thrust into the early starting role.
On Judge’s goal, Fisher tried to come out and collect a ball in behind by Lily Wikstrom, but she didn’t jump on out aggressively enough as three players all came together right at the top of the box. The ball trickled out to Fisher, who easily walked it into the empty net.
“She did incredible. She gave up that goal, but you know we’ll live with that, good on her for stepping up,” said Searle.
Wikstrom and Fisher were the two Judge players circled on Morgan’s scouting reporting, as they’ve combined to scored 36 goals this year, but over the final 67 minutes of the semifinal, the defense held them in check.
“We talked a lot about man marking and putting a lot of pressure on No. 15 and No. 25 because those are their two best players, and just kind of man marking them and making sure they that we didn’t give them opportunities to turn and shoot,” said Burton.
In many respects, it was a nightmare opening 20 minutes for Ogden in Thursday’s 3A semifinal with Manti at Zions Bank Stadium.
It lost the state’s leading scorer Kate Pulley (35 goals) to a knee injury in the opening 10 minutes, with Pulley spending most the rest of the first half laying on the trainers table under a blanket.
Ten minutes later, Ogden was whistled for a handball in the box as Manti was awarded a penalty kick completely against the run of play.
For an Ogden team hoping to repeat as 3A state champs, things couldn’t have started much worse.
Fortunes changed quickly for the Tigers after the PK call. Manti banged the spot kick off the cross bar keeping the game scoreless.
Then, the good fortune continued for Ogden as it finally broke the deadlock and snuck a shot past Manti junior keeper Alyssa Whitney as Elle Weston uncorked a shot into the top corner from the top of the box in the 27th minute.
“Our first half didn’t go like we thought it would. I think the injury to Kate Pulley in the beginning kind of maybe freaked us out a little bit. It just seemed very stressful the first half, and we all just too k some deep breaths, reset our mindsets,” said Ogden coach Alexis King.
With the 1-0 halftime lead, senior midfielder Bella Gray took over from there.
The senior returning all-state midfielder scored a pair of goals 11 minutes apart early in the second half to extend Ogden’s lead to 3-0.
She lofted a 25-yard dipping shot over Manti’s keeper in the 43rd minute to double the Tigers lead, and then in the 54th scored a similar goal from a different angle for the 3-0 lead.
Gray scored 15 goals as a junior last year, but the semifinal goals were her first two of this high school season as she missed the first 16 games recovering from a January hip injury suffered with the El Salvadar under-17 national team.
With the long recovery time, the Ole Miss commit wasn’t sure she’d be back in time to help the Tigers try and repeat as 3A state champ.
When it became clear last month that a return to the field seemed likely, she was extremely diligent in her recovery work to make it happen.
“I wanted to play and one of the only reasons was my sister. It was our last year together and I just wanted to play with her one last team. This program means so much to me,” said Gray.
Sofia Gray helped set up Bella Gray on her first goal with a cheeky backheel pass into space in the midfield.
With the win, Ogden advances to face region foe Morgan in the 3A championship game on Saturday at 11 a.m. The teams split the season series, with each winning on their home field.
Ogden beat Morgan in last year’s final 3-1, winning all three games against the Trojans a year ago.