Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WOODS CROSS — The easy part was done.
Now Herriman goalkeeper J.D. Myers just had to turn three first-half goals by his teammates into the Mustangs’ first-ever berth in the Class 5A state boys soccer finals.
Done and done.
Ethan Alexander, Dallas May and Nick Franco each scored a goal in the first half, and Myers earned the shutout in goal as Herriman blanked Bingham 3-0 in a 5A state semifinal Tuesday at Woods Cross High School.
“Coming out and scoring three goals as quick as we did boosted our confidence,” Myers said. “We just pushed as much as we could throughout the game.
“To finish with a 3-0 score line against a great Bingham team is amazing. Going to the semifinals with these brothers of mine is amazing; now we’re going to Rio Tinto in Sandy to try to finish it off.”
The Mustangs (15-1) will face Region 2 champion Layton (13-2) at 4:30 p.m. MDT Thursday in the 5A state championship at Rio Tinto Stadium.
“We’re ecstatic,” Herriman coach Ryan Mitchell said. “It’s a fairly short history as far as the school and the program goes. We kind of started without so much talent for the first few years, and where we are now has me ecstatic. I’m ecstatic for this group.
“I want to win so bad just because I love this group of kids so much, and I know they are capable of it. But I knew they would show up.”
And though the late-game drama didn’t match the Lancers’ 1-0 win over Copper Hills in extra time, Herriman played with as much confidence as any team in the state playoffs.
Halftime | @OfficialMustang 3, Bingham 0. Mustangs are cruising to a 5A final date with Layton. pic.twitter.com/rv9kJ5OgT6
— Sean Walker (@DSeanKSL) May 24, 2017
More so for a team just six years removed from its inaugural six-win season.
“This is a mature group of kids; a lot of them play nine months out of the year in the biggest tournaments around the country. They weren’t fazed,” Mitchell said. “I’ve got eight seniors who have been together for four years, with me for four years. They have a good understanding of the style of play I want and I expect.
“That’s filtered down to the younger players, and I’ve got a lot of good leadership on the team. All the seniors, and even some juniors, are good leaders. Their confidence and understanding of the game filters down to everybody. Everybody feels good about it.”
Alexander opened the scoring just three minutes into the match with a right-footed shot that beat the goalkeeper inside the far post for a 1-0 advantage.
Things got better when May tallied his 12th goal of the season, rising up for a glancing header in the 28th minute for a 2-0 advantage.
“That early goal gave us a lot of confidence,” Mitchell said. “The service was fantastic, and we just did a good job finishing.”
When Franco redirected a deflected shot into the back of the net for a 3-0 halftime lead, the Mustang defense knew it only had one job: clinch the program’s first-ever trip to the state championship.
“Our offense of Carter Johnson, Ethan, Nick, Dallas, Kolton Johnson, they went hard for the first half-hour while Bingham was killing us in the back. But putting three away on an exceptional ’keeper boosted our confidence,” Myers said.
“If they were fighting up top and digging in, we knew we were going to fight in the back and dig in. We did as much as we needed to pull out the shutout.”
Myers made three saves to preserve the Mustangs’ 10th shutout, with plenty of help from his back line.
“I think we came in knowing they go so hard that we had to deal with first pressure, and then we couldn’t just take it in,” Myers said. “We had to give it back and go hard for as many minutes as we needed.
“We had a game plan from the beginning; we knew we would play Bingham at some point — they are that good. We just had to play at our very best.”
Mitchell gave credit to the defense for the shutout, even if the offense gave the Mustangs a 3-0 advantage that Bingham (15-2) could never overcome.
“J.D. and the back four really came up huge,” Mitchell said. “They have been all year; there are four very, very good soccer players that will all play in college eventually. It’s a fantastic group.”
