High school girls soccer: Rowland Hall tops Real Salt Lake Academy in penalty shootout, three-peats as 2A state champions

Rowland Hall celebrates after defeating Real Salt Lake Academy in the 2A state soccer championship at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. Rowland Hall won in a shootout after two overtime periods. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

The Winged Lions outshot the Griffins 4-3 in penalty kicks, after a 1-1 draw through 100 minutes of championship soccer

SANDY — Over the last few years, there hasn’t been a better girls soccer program in the 2A classification than that of the Rowland Hall Winged Lions.

Since 2015, the Winged Lions have racked up 76 wins to just seven losses and three draws.

“This is how we usually play. We played our brand of soccer today. I’m proud that we were able to get out there and get the result that we wanted.” — Rowland Hall’s Jordan Crockett

The team’s goal differential in that time is 558, as Rowland Hall has scored 603 goals to just 45 scored by their opponents.

There was an undefeated 18-0-0 season in 2017 and, of course, back-to-back state championships in 2017 and ‘18.

The dominance extended into the title games in those championship seasons, as the Winged Lions defeated rival Waterford 6-3 in 2017 and 7-0 in the 2A last season.

It has been a run of nearly unparalleled success.

Saturday morning at Rio Tinto Stadium, it nearly came to an end.

Real Salt Lake Academy, the top overall seed in this year’s state tournament, gave Rowland Hall everything it could handle and then some in the 2A state championship game.

That included the Griffins taking an early lead on an Olivia Watt goal in the first half.

Ultimately, RSL Academy played the two-time defending champions to a 1-1 draw through 100 minutes of soccer.

The Winged Lions were not about to let their run of excellence end, however.

Rowland Hall won a penalty shootout against RSL Academy 4-3 to win the team’s third consecutive state championship and the fifth state title in school history.

“It was (close) and we knew it would be,” Rowland Hall head coach Bobby Kennedy said. “It is a big occasion and you could tell.”

• Watch replay: Rowland Hall 1, Real Salt Lake Academy 1 (Rowland Hall wins PK shootout, 4-3)

It was a game unlike any most of the Winged Lions had experienced in their high school careers.

“We knew that RSL wasn’t going to just give it to us. They gave us a run for our money for sure,” senior Jordan Crockett said. “We are so thankful that they were such huge competition for us, the biggest competition of the year, clearly. Our team came out as a family and we just grinded it out.”

Crockett was one of three seniors, along with Anna Fukushima and Giselle Bodeen, who converted penalty kicks during the game-deciding shootout.

Sophomore goalkeeper Micha Nenbee was no less important, as she came in for senior stalwart Sophie Stinnett and parried away two of the Griffins four penalty tries.

It was sophomore Summer Connery who scored the game-winner, after having netted Rowland Hall’s only goal in regulation.

“I had a few nerves, but I practice PK’s a lot so I was feeling confident,” Connery said. “I knew I could do it.”

That'll do it. @RowlandHall hall wins the PK shootout. #MyReasonWhy pic.twitter.com/Mk6o5qAtud

— UHSAA (@UHSAAinfo) October 26, 2019

So did Kennedy.

“I’ve seen her do that. She can hit that thing with her eyes closed,” he said. “She is good. There is really no element of the game she doesn’t do.”

The same can be said for Crockett, Rowland Hall’s captain and classification MVP a season ago.

If you ask her, the state title victory over RSL Academy might be the sweetest win of her high school career.

“I think it is,” she said. “This final, winning this final as a senior, this game was the closest (final) I’ve ever been in at Rowland Hall. It is amazing for us to step out as a family and work hard and support each other.”

Making the win even sweeter was the fact that the Griffins defeated the Winged Lions earlier in the season, in double overtime no less.

“Earlier in the year, we didn’t really know what we were walking into, really,” Crockett said. “They deserved the win the first time. We were off our game, shaky. We didn’t play the way we usually play.”

They did Saturday.

“This is how we usually play,” Crockett said. “We played our brand of soccer today. I’m proud that we were able to get out there and get the result that we wanted.”

And for the third year in a row, the result gave Rowland Hall the state championship.

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