The Spartan soccer season came to a close on May 4, after a 7-0 loss to Morgan in the second round of the 3A State Soccer Championships. The Spartans ended the season at 8-7 overall and carried a 5-3 Region 12 record which landed them in second place in conference play.
Emery was lead this season by Manuel Noriega with eight goals. Carsen Childs collected five and Carter Huntington had three. Koalton Curtis also put together five shutouts this season.
Below is a recap of the 2022 season for the Spartans.
March 8- Delta- Win- 1-0
The Spartans soccer season ended on May 17, 2021 in the semi-finals to eventual runner-up Morgan. The first few games are always a question mark mostly due to the unknown weather that early spring brings, but on Tuesday they traveled to Delta to face the Rabbits an earned a shutout victory 1-0.
Delta is coming off a tremendous 20-21 season in which they ended with a 16-3 overall record going 11-1 in region play and landing the No. 2 spot in the RPI. Their season ended in the semi-finals at the hands of the 3A state champions Judge Memorial. Delta also has five returning players from last years squad as well.
Emery soccer coach Troy Winter joined us on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports to talk about some of the players that are returning this season.
“We lost a few seniors last year and we gained some really good seniors this year, some good underclassmen. I’m really looking forward to some of our seniors this year. McCallister Beagley, Alex Noriega and Marko Ilijic, we’re kind of looking forward to see how things go with them this year, they’ve been in the system for a while, they’ve played with us and they do club stuff so I’m really, really excited to see what they bring to the team this year.”
Well Coach Winter didn’t have to wait long as Noriega, who led the team last season with seven goals. picked up right where he left off, scoring the lone goal for the Spartans and the defense stepped up and pitched the 1-0 shutout.
St. George Tournament March 10-12
After earning a win in Delta last Tuesday the Spartan soccer squad headed for warmer temperatures to play three games in two days at a tournament in St.George. Taking a win in their first match against Union, the rest of the weekend didn’t go according to plan losing their last two with Parowan and Manti.
Below is a recap of all games played in St. George.
Mar. 11- Union- Win- 2-0
The fun started for the Spartans on Friday morning as they met up with Union on the field. These two teams hooked up last season in March with the Spartans taking a 4-3 win.
In this contest both teams started out slowly, going scoreless in the first half.
The second half belonged to the Spartans as Marko Ilijic and Carsen Childs found the back of the net and Koalton Curtis put up the shutout.
Marc. 11- Parowan- Loss-1-0
Just seven-and-a- half hours after the start of the Union game, Emery was back on the field, this time taking on the Parowan Rams from the 2A class. It was the Rams stingy defense that made the difference as Cooper Miller registered a shutout against the Spartans 1-0.
Both teams remained scoreless after one, but it was Kelly Mangum that scored the lone goal in the contest in the second half.
Mar. 12- Manti- Loss- 4-1
The Spartans would end their weekend taking on the Manti Templars Saturday afternoon. Manti had a huge offensive output scoring four goals and winning the game 4-1.
The Templars ended last season at 14-3 going 11-1 in region play. They earned a first round playoff bye and fell to Summit Academy in the second round 1-0. Three players returned from last year’s squad to go to battle for third year coach Dane Pollock.
Emery and Manti played to a 1-1 tie at halftime, but the Templars added three goals in the second half taking a 4-1 win.
March 15- Grand- Loss- 1-0
The Spartans were on the road Tuesday to face the Grand County Red Devils. Grand was most likely looking for revenge for last years exit from the state playoffs compliments of Emery, and it would appear they got what they were looking for defeating the Spartans by the same score, 1-0 in the region opener for both teams.
Grand is led this season by first year coach Laura Reed. Last year the Red Devils led 3A in defense allowing an average of less than one goal per game and No. 3 in offense scoring just under four goals per game.
The Red Devils put up the only score in the game in the first half, but that was all they would need as they held the Spartans scoreless in the contest.
Emery now sits at 1-3 on the season and has a really big game coming up on Friday as they welcome the Carbon Dinos to the field at Emery High.
March 18- Carbon- Win- 3-0
The Emery and Carbon boys soccer teams hooked up for the first time last Friday night on the new field in Castle Dale, and as a way to make the meeting even more special, they played under the lights. Emery imposed their will on the Dinos holding them scoreless, taking the 3-0 win.
Emery was coming off their first region contest, a loss on the road to Grand and Carbon was coming off their region road win over Richfield.
Emery started the scoring early, putting two goals on the board in the first half. They would find the back of the net in the second earning the region win over rival Carbon.
Carsen Childs collected two goals for the Spartans while Alex Noriega added the other. Koalton Curtis earned his third shutout of the season in goal.
As for the Spartans, they won’t take to the field again until Mar. 24, when they welcome Canyon View, then they will be off until Mar. 29 when they travel to Richfield.
March 24- Canyon View- Win- 2-0
Last Friday, Emery picked up their first region win at home against Carbon. On Thursday they welcomed Canyon View to Castle Dale. Alex Noreiga and Carsen Childs found the back of the net for the Spartans in the 2-0 victory.
The Spartans sit at 3-3 overall but now hold a 2-1 region record. Recently Coach Troy Winter was a guest on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports and he talked about Noreiga and Childs contributions to the team this season.
“Both of them have been awesome for our program, their ability is top notch. As you’ve watched Alex over the years he is an Energizer Bunny, he goes and goes and goes and he works hard, gives 110% consistently and all the time making good moves and doing what needs to be done. Carsen is somebody I’ve had to work with for a long time here, five, six years in development and work, he’s coming into his own, he’s finally starting to realize this is his field.”
The Spartans put one goal up in each half and Koalton Curtis earned another shutout in the pipes, his fourth of the year.
March 29- Richfield- Win- 4-1
The Spartans soccer squad traveled to Richfield on Tuesday to face the Wildcats in the first meeting between the two teams this season. Emery came to play scoring all four goals in the second half and returning to Castle Dale with a 4-1 victory.
Emery is making their way through the season earning a 5-3 record and with the win over Richfield moving their region mark to 3-1, the Spartans have hit the halfway point of their conference play with only five games left this season all but one, April 11 against Uintah, will be with a team they have played once already this season.
Both teams came out quietly to start the contest which was evident in the 0-0 halftime mark. In the second half however, it was a different story with Richfield finding the back of the net once but four Spartans each put one past the Wildcat goalie. Chase Huggard, Carter Huntington, Alex Noriega and Carsen Childs scored in the victory.
The Spartans now will prepare for the final push as there are just three weeks left till the end on the season. They will begin on Thursday when they welcome Grand to Castle Dale.
March 31- Grand- Win- 2-2 (4-2)
Emery welcomed Grand to the field on Thursday for the final regular season meeting between the two members of Region 12. In the first match back in early March, Grand got the better of the Spartans 1-0, and since then Emery has not lost a contest. It would take a shootout but the streak remained intact with a 2-2 (4-2) win.
Emery is on a four game winning streak with wins over Carbon, Canyon View, Richfield and now Grand. Sitting at 6-3 and 4-1 in region play they are positioning themselves for a great playoff run.
Alex Noriega and Carter Huntington both found the back of the net, and unable to settle the game after regulation, they moved into a shootout in which the Spartans came away with the win 4-2.
April 11- Uintah- Loss- 5-0
With just a few games remaining in the soccer season, the Emery Spartans took to the pitch on Monday when they welcomed the Uintah Utes to Castle Dale. Emery battled with the Utes but in the end it was Uintah who claimed the victory, 5-0.
The Utes play in the 5A classification and hold a 6-2 record and sit in the No, 10 spot in the RPI.
Uintah started the game finding the back of the net twice in the first half under extremely windy conditions, half number two was more of the same with the Utes putting up three more goals in the win over the Spartans.
Emery head coach Troy Winter was a guest on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports and talked about the weather as a factor in the game.
“The weather definitely plays, you hate to say it plays a factor but it did play a factor. The wind was very high miles per hour let’s put it that way. Uintah came out, they played well together as a team. We missed a couple of opportunities, we were right in this game, we just missed them opportunities and that’s what it turns out.”
April 14- Carbon- Loss- 2-1
Carbon and Emery met up for the last time in the regular season on Thursday in Price. Back on March 18, under the lights in Castle Dale, The Spartans got the better of the Dinos in a 3-0 shutout win. The change of scenery was good for Carbon as they were able to get the win this time around 2-1.
Emery was on the defensive for the majority of the first half holding the Dinos to just one score. These are two teams that like to get out and run and both also showed off tremendous footwork at times.
In the second half already up 1-0, Carbon came out ready to keep the Spartans on their heels, but Emery was able to find the back of the net one time in the period. The Dinos added one more goal for good measure taking the 2-1 win moving Carbon to 5-1 in Region 12 play.
The Emery Spartans sit at 6-5 overall and 4-2 in region play, they also hold the No. 14 spot. They wrap up the regular season next week with two region games in two days. They will travel to Cedar City to face Canyon View on Thursday and then turn around next Friday and welcome Richfield to Castle Dale when they will face the Wildcats for “Senior Night” under the lights, game time is set for 7:00 p.m..
April 21- Canyon View- Loss- 2-0
As the regular season starts to wind down, the Spartans found themselves in Cedar City on Thursday to face the Canyon View Falcons. This was the second and final time these two would face off in the season. Back in March the Falcons traveled to Castle Dale and Emery handed them a 2-0 loss. In Cedar City on Thursday, Canyon View returned the favor by the same score handing the Spartans a 2-0 loss.
Canyon View would come out in the first half putting up a single goal and keeping Emery off the scoreboard.
Half number two was the same, another Falcon goal and no score for Emery.
The loss moves Emery to 6-6 overall and a 4-3 region mark. The state RPI that is maintained by the Utah High School Activities Association has been removed from view and won’t resurface until April 27, when the final rankings will be released as will the state tournament brackets.
The first round of the playoffs will begin on April 29. The first three rounds will take place at home sites.
April 22- Richfield- Win- 2-0
The Emery Spartan soccer team celebrated “Senior Night”, Friday in Castle Dale as they hosted the Richfield Wildcats for the final time this regular season. The usual suspects were there for the Spartans putting offense on display while Koalton Curtis earned a shutout in goal to take the 2-0 win.
Emery opened up the 2022 campaign on March 8, with a win over Delta and are pushing their way toward the playoffs. The first meeting between these two squads was back on March 29 when Emery bested the Wildcats in Richfield, 4-1. This contest would end the same way and Emery would collect their seventh win on the season and fifth region victory.
Emery found the back of the net in both halves with Rhett Winter and Carter Huntington handling the scoring duties for the Spartans. Curtis would go on to record his fifth shutout of the season in goal.
First Round of 3A State Soccer Playoffs-
April 29- Union- Win- 2-1
In the opening round of the state playoff the Spartans would face the winless Union Cougars. Emery had played them once before taking the 2-0 advantage. In this contest the Spartans Alex Noriega came through and Emery ended the Cougars season 2-1.
Noriega put up both goals in the game one in the first half and one in the second, and the Emery defense held Union to just one goal in the opening period.
Moving into the next round Emery will face Morgan on their home field, May 4.
May 4- Morgan- Loss- 7-0
The Emery Spartan soccer squad found themselves on the road in Morgan on Wednesday for the second round of the 3A state playoffs. Morgan was last year’s runner-up losing to Judge Memorial in the championship. Emery had trouble finding any offense and the Morgan Trojans did not, defeating the Spartans 7-0 ending their 2022 campaign.
Morgan came into the contest with Emery as the No. 6 seed with the Spartans claiming the No.11.
The Trojans jumped out in the first half scoring two goals however, it was the second half where they became relentless, scoring another five and putting away the Spartans. Morgan used a pair of goalies, Braden Howe and Garrett Henderson that would combine for the shutout. Morgan will move on to face No. 3 Juab on Saturday.
Emery ended the season 8-7 and with a 5-3 record. The Spartans will be looking to pick up and start a new season next March.