UTAH AVALANCHE CLINCH WASATCH DIVISION TITLE

Written & Photos By:   Andrew Mosier
                       Central Region Contributor

A win over La Roca FC was all the Utah Avalanche needed to clinch the Wasatch Division title Saturday night and that’s exactly what it got, winning 3-1 on the road to move to 7-0-0 on the season.

"To be able to do as well as we have in our first season in the league, that speaks a lot for the quality of players we have on our team," Trevor Waschman, Avalanche head coach, said.  "This is an incredibly competitive league."

Still, Waschman did everything he could to downplay it going into the match. The night before, his team played a hard-fought 3-0 win at the Utah Surf to extend its undefeated record.

With temperatures over 100 degrees on the turf and the cushion of a match the following week, it was not a must-win situation for the Avalanche – it was for La Roca.

With two matches in hand, taking three points from its fellow WPSL debutant would keep La Roca in the hunt for the division title, and avenge the only loss it suffered on the season: a physical 2-1 loss at the Avalanche two weeks earlier.

With the division title at stake, the return leg picked up right where the first left off under sweltering conditions, with both teams trading blows early on. For Waschman, he didn’t try to change much of his team’s play, despite the match the night before.

"Maybe not quite as aggressive from the start…we let them have it a bit more than we might otherwise,” Waschman said. “La Roca is a very good team. We knew we would not just be able to go out there and dictate things."

Though both teams had created chances, neither team posed any real threat until the moment before the halftime whistle when Avalanche center back Maryn Granger re-directed a driven corner kick by Mikayla Elmer just inside the far post.

"Getting that first goal, when we did, that kind of shifted the momentum for a little while," Waschman said. "We were able to play a little more like we wanted to after that."

The Avalanche used that momentum to start the second half. Marli Neiderhauser doubled the Avalanche lead seven minutes in, at the 52’ minute, punishing the hosts for a defensive miscue that sent her one-on-one with charging goalkeeper Emmalene McKeon where she calmly slotted the ball past and inside the near post.

The second goal seemed to put a spark under La Roca. Over the next few minutes, as the Avalanche were showing signs of fading, despite Waschman's heavy player rotations, La Roca turned up the pressure. The persistence forced Avalanche’s second-half goalkeeper Camryn Miller to make several saves including robbing La Roca's Sophie White of a goal, parrying her well-taken free-kick just wide in the 56’ minute. White again denied the La Roca attack four minutes later, saving to her left this time to prevent Whitney Lopez from inside the penalty area.

With the Avalanche running on fumes, Tenzi Knowles sealed the victory—and the Wasatch Division title—in the 65’ minute against the run of play, beating her defender to the ball on the right flank before lobbing the ball to the far post to make it 3-0 for the Avalanche – McKeon got a hand on it but it was not enough.

With 15 minutes to play La Roca pulled one back. Aubrey Hadley—who also sang a rousing rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner before the match—got on the end of a Bizzy Arevalo cross from the right flank, re-directing the ball inside the far post.

"Credit to our defense after they got a goal back," Waschman said. "They did a great job seeing out the game after that."

The still-unbeaten Avalanche closes out its regular schedule Saturday, June 18 at the Utah Red Devils and will then host the winner of the Colorado-based Rockies Division in the Mountain Conference Championship match Saturday, July 9.

With three matches still to play, La Roca is in a dogfight with the Utah Red Devils for second place in the division. La Roca travels to the Utah Arrows SC June 18 and to the Utah Surf June 24, before closing out its inaugural season at home versus the Arrows June 25.