By Joe Murray, Head Coach

Thirty-six players turned up for practice in the first week and all 36 stayed for the season. This is a record number in my time as head coach, and I was very happy that we managed to create a schedule that provided as many games as possible for the players.

After last year’s quarterfinal loss, the team returned this year with even greater determination to win a state championship. For the 10 seniors, it would be their last chance to win a state title, and they made sure that the entire roster was on board to achieve this goal. The three co-captains, Kelton Ferriter, Mikko Anderson, and Zac Bahna, were selected in the first week and proved to be key motivating influences on the players. What an amazing season it turned out to be!

Regular Season

A regular season schedule of 13 games had been planned, consisting of seven non-region games and six region games. The re-alignment of the Utah High School Activities Association regions resulted in a far tougher region than in prior years. Every game was going to be difficult, and so it proved.

The season opener pitted the Winged Lions against perennial rival Judge Memorial. A hat trick from Kelton Ferriter wasn’t enough to clinch victory in regular time, as the Bulldogs fought back from 3-1 to tie 3-3—the same result as last year, incidentally. However, Rowland Hall managed to hold on in extra time this season and won the first of three penalty shootouts the team would contest. We followed up the victory over Judge with a hard-fought 3-2 win against 4A Park City High School, Ferriter again being the hero with two of the three goals.

We then began a run of games against region opponents prior to April break, losing at American Heritage (3-1), winning at Draper (1-0), winning at home to Waterford (1-0), losing at St. Joe (2-0), winning another shoot-out at American Leadership Academy, and then losing to Draper (3-0) at home. Going into April break, the team had a 5-3 record, having lost the influential River Whitten to injury early in the second game of the season.

The team’s fortunes changed after April break, with losses to region rivals American Heritage and Maeser Prep (both games at home). Despite the losses, our performance on the field had improved from earlier games. We then won two games on the trot versus Waterford and Intermountain Christian before finishing the season with a home loss to St. Joe. Our regular season ended with a 7-6 record and our strength of schedule helped us to the #5 seed, despite six losses, as two of the losses were to American Heritage, the #2 seed, and two more losses were to St. Joe, the #1 seed. Performances against both teams had improved from game one to game two, and that improvement would continue!

Given our numbers this year, we were fortunate that 11 of 13 varsity opponents also fielded a JV team. In several cases, other schools didn’t have the same numbers as Rowland Hall. As a result, those teams typically supplemented JV with varsity players. This resulted in several tough games for JV, but we would much prefer this scenario than not having games. The experience of “playing up” will serve the JV team well in future seasons. All things considered, the team’s 4-6-1 record was impressive given that the team was often playing against older players. The following JV players made valuable contributions:  juniors Sam Bateman, Raphael Andreae, and William Berry; sophomores Oscar Hochman, Asher Orenstein, Sawyer Orgain, Ocky Moyle, Jacob Conover, Baker Campsen, and Alex Alfaro; and ninth graders Lucas Lamas, Jameson Moore, Andrew Hanrahan, Severin Gerhardt, Jacob Gerhardt, Luke Kanarowski, Teo Shamah, Wyatt Williams, Charlie Von Maack, Daniel Melman, Felix Andreae, and Paxton Cichos. Several of the players listed above stepped up to play significant minutes at varsity level, especially Raphael, Lucas, Jameson and Andrew, while others, such as William, Luke, Severin, Jacob Gerhardt and Sawyer, all impressed enough to make the cut for the varsity roster in the playoffs. The JV team was very ably coached by Luke Muhlestein, one of the captains from the 2022 state championship team.

State Tournament Playoffs

Our seeding meant that we received a first-round bye. Our first playoff game was in the Round of 16 at home versus Merit Prep. This was a repeat of the previous year’s fixture at the same stage, and the Winged Lions improved on last year’s score with an 8-1 victory. This proved to be a good experience for all members of the varsity roster, as all 22 players took some part in the proceedings.

The remainder of the state tournament was interesting in that each game was against a team we had already played twice. At the quarterfinal stage, we improved our record against Waterford to 3-0 with an emphatic 4-0 victory and one of the team’s best performances of the season.

The semifinal pitted us against St. Joe. In an intense game at Zions Bank Stadium, the Winged Lions took a 1-0 lead into halftime after a fine finish by Nate Kanter. The team defended resolutely in the second half, but unfortunately conceded with five minutes remaining. Going into overtime, St. Joe had the initiative, but Rowland Hall quickly wrested back control and played impressively. The team was rewarded with a penalty kick at the end of the first half, which Kelton Ferriter duly converted. The 2-1 overtime result was the team’s third golden goal victory of the season. More importantly, it was a reversal of regular season results against the same opponent and meant a second state championship game in three seasons.

The state championship game against American Heritage proved to be another nail-biter. After an early period of dominance for the Patriots, the Winged Lions took control, but could not convert chances that came their way. The Patriots came back into it late in the game and had chances to win. The game ended 0-0 after 80 minutes, and although both teams had chances in extra time, the game was still tied. Onto the team’s third penalty shoot-out of the season. While the team had not missed a penalty kick in its previous two shoot-outs, that was soon to change. The Patriots had several chances to win the game, but on six occasions, five times in sudden death, Brock Paradise was the hero in goal and saved the day. Entering the 16th round, the score was 8-8. Zac Bahna converted his penalty to make it 9-8 before Brock performed heroics one last time to secure victory for the Winged Lions. Cue wild celebrations for the team’s second state championship in three seasons!

Awards

This was a year in which the team’s work ethic and determination were especially important. Every player should be proud of his achievement. The following individual awards went to seniors who epitomized that work ethic and determination.

• Most Valuable Player: One player stood out over the course of the season, and that was Kelton Ferriter. Having played as a right back in his freshman year, and primarily as a defensive midfielder in his sophomore and junior years, Kelton took on a more attacking role in his senior year. He led the team with 13 goals and five assists, but his overall contribution was immense.
• Defensive MVP: Brandt Barker had an outstanding season at center back, leading a defensive unit that included a freshman, sophomore, and junior. As the lone senior defender, Brandt showed incredible composure and kept several top strikers quiet.
• Offensive MVP: After an outstanding junior year, midfielder/attacker Mikko Anderson continued his impressive form. He scored five goals, mainly from the right wing, where his passing and shooting ability stood out.
• Coaches’ Award: At the end of the 2023 season, the midfield needed surgery after the graduations of Anthony Sanchez and Charlie Frech. There was a desire to play Kelton Ferriter further forward, leaving room for two new holding midfielders. Zac Bahna and Tripp Rollins both grew into the role over the course of the season, and both received the Coaches’ Award as the team’s midfield generals.
• Golden Glove: This was a new award created for the season. It’s highly unlikely that we will ever see another state championship with such a dramatic shoot-out. For his heroics in the final, and throughout the season, Brock Paradise is the deserving winner of this award. Brock was also selected as the UHSAA Athlete of the Week for his performance in the final.
• Most Improved Player: Nate Kanter was a deserving winner, having stepped up from a supporting role into a full-time starter on the wing. Nate worked hard on his game and that paid off in his senior year, where he scored three important goals for the team.
• All-Region: Rowland Hall earned three places on the All-Region team. Owing to outstanding performances throughout the season, Brandt Barker, Mikko Anderson, and Kelton Ferriter were selected. It is no surprise that all three won individual MVP awards also.
• All-State: Although not yet announced, we are hopeful that the team’s success will result in multiple players being selected for the All-State teams.
• Academic All-State/Academic All-Region: Brandt Barker, Kelton Ferriter, Zac Bahna, and Kai Thielking all kept the academic flag flying for boys soccer by being honored as Academic All-State as well as Academic All-Region. Mikko Anderson and Gabe Andrus earned Academic All-Region honors.

Varsity Recognition by Grade

Freshmen
Fran Fierro was the outstanding freshman, starting at center back for the entire season. Lucas Lamas, Jameson Moore, and Ian Hanrahan also played significant minutes at varsity level. There is plenty of room for optimism based on this year’s freshman group.

Sophomores
Noa Fukushima was the outstanding sophomore. Having mostly played off the bench as a freshman, Noa established himself as the starting right back for the season.

Juniors
Angus Hickman and Owen Taylor were the standout juniors, both starting most games at left back and center forward, respectively. For both players, this was the first year that both started most games, and both showed significant improvement year over year.

Seniors
Eight seniors played all four years for Rowland Hall, and Tripp Rollins joined the team in his sophomore year and Brock Paradise joined the team as a junior. The achievements of several of the seniors have been noted above in the section on individual awards. In addition to those mentioned previously, I would like to note the contributions of the following players:

• River Whitten has been a four-year player at varsity level. River was a standout freshman and subsequently achieved All-State honors in his junior year. His presence was sorely missed for most of the season due to injury, but he did return for the final to make an important contribution.
• Kai Thielking has played all four years. He has improved every year, and this year he made important contributions in several close varsity games.
• Gabe Andrus also played all four years. He started the first game of the season and made important contributions off the bench in several other games.

We wish all 10 seniors well in their future endeavors. Hopefully, many will continue to play soccer at some level and to enjoy the beautiful game. They have been outstanding ambassadors for both the soccer program and Rowland Hall in their final year.
 
Many thanks to Kendra, Zack, Kiersten, and the Athletics Office for their support throughout the season. Thanks also to Assistant Coaches Jack Schill and Luke Muhlestein for their contributions. Given our numbers, their support and advice were vital this season. Thank you to the Booster Club, especially liaisons Amy Taylor and Tammy Fukushima, for making sure that the boys were well nourished at all the games. Thank you to all the parents for their support throughout the year, from dealing with all the administrative requirements to driving players to and from practices and games. We have had great support at games from parents, alumni, and students alike, and that was very much appreciated by the players and coaches. Finally, I would like to thank the players for all their efforts throughout the season. They persevered and deservedly achieved their goal. Congratulations to the 2024 state champions!