Sunrise Mountain girls stride into soccer playoffs

Sunrise Mountain's girls soccer team entered Friday night determined to ensure its season would not end with senior night.

The Mustangs were in control from the onset in their final regular season game against Dysart. Their constant pressure was rewarded by a two-goal burst in both halves. Sunrise Mountain (7-6-1, 4-2 West Valley Region) also allowed only four shots by Dysart (8-11, 3-3) in its 4-0 win.

The victory clinched a 4A-I playoff spot for the Mustangs - No. 15 in the power point standings coming in - and prevented a bummer of a team slumber party Friday night, coach Shauna Johnson said.

"The girls came out pumped up. It also helped that it was our senior night," she said. "This team has been very resilient all year long. We dropped a couple of games that were tough for us, but we've always picked ourselves back up. Tonight was a good exhibition of that. Some of the things we've worked on this year came together."

Sunrise Mountain flodded Dysart's penalty box in the opening 15 minutes, including two runs by sophomore Amanda Okani, a corner kick an a free kick from the top of the box.

With 21:22 left in the first half, the Mustangs' attack broke through as sophomore Olivia Gibson scored off a feed from senior Carli Krueger. Then, with 15:50 remaining Krueger gathered a cross and found the back of the net.

Dysart started off the second half controlling the ball more, but it wasn't long before Sunrise tilted things toward their offensive zone again.

Senior Sala Shanley built the lead to 3-0 at the 29:35 mark. Two minutes later, Krueger capped her busy night with a second goal

"She's been very successful this year. She suffered through some injuries in her underclassmen years," Johnson said. "She played a phenomenal game. She was nice and solid on the ball, moving on and off, looking to distribute and looking to finish."

For Dysart, its final game was another reminder of the difficult move this year to 4A-I from 4A-II, made more trying by injuries to two top players.

"Last year we were 4A-II. We went 5-5 (in power point games) and made the state playoffs and that was a huge success," coach Andrew Garrett said. "Then, we had to move up to 4A-I where it's a lot tougher competition and we went 6-6 (in power point games).

Though there will be no postseason play, but Garrett said he saw the program make progress. Foremost is the increased interest in girls soccer on campus.

"We've got some young girls that are really stepping up," he said. "We're trying to get the girls in the high school involved in soccer. We don't have club players. We had 60 girls in the program this year, which is just a huge step in the right direction for us."

In contrast, Sunrise Mountain moved down from 5A-II this year. The Mustangs also made the playoffs in 2009, and like Dysart, lost in the first round.

They'll likely stay in a low seed when pairings are announced Sunday. Johnson said the team can only focus on Wednesday's first-round game and not worry too much about rankings or reputations.

"We don't know who our opponents is. If it's a Tucson team, we haven't seen them at all," Johnson said.