High school soccer: Springville overcomes early deficit to beat Region 7 foe Timpview

Disaster struck early for the Springville Red Devils as the Timpview Thunderbirds nailed a goal in the opening 90 seconds.

However, the Red Devils put the goal behind them and rallied to beat their Region 7 foe 3-2.

Giving up early goals has been an issue for Springville, most noticeably in their loss to Wasatch, who the Red Devils are tied with at the top of Region 7.

“We tend to make games hard on ourselves,” said Springville head coach Jeff Jensen.

“I knew we had the ability to score goals so I wasn’t too stressed, and I knew we would get one, but it was disappointing.”

“We have given up way too many early goals and that’s something as a team we need to improve on. It wasn’t like we hadn’t done it this season, but I was confident we could get goals back.”

Timpview had a few more chances in the opening minutes, but the Red Devils held on, which paid off when Sophie Neves found her sister Mattie Neves for the equalizer.

Springville followed that up with a go-head goal from Mercedes Kentjanaputra off another assist from Sophie with under seven minutes in the half.

The Red Devils still didn’t let up in the second half, this time it was Sophie’s turn to score off an assist from her sister Mattie in the first 30 seconds of the half. Suddenly Springville turned a 0-1 deficit into a 3-1 lead.

Timpview senior Sophie Neves ended the game with one goal and two assists on the night and showed why she is committed to play at a top-10 program in Alabama.

“I feel like this whole season we’ve worked really hard on defense and had some unlucky losses,” said Sophie.

“It’s just about building that mentality; we’ve been able to get back those goals and I’m really proud of my team for refocusing and putting the pressure back on them.”

However, the Thunderbirds were quick to answer with a goal of their own, leaving the score 3-2.

Timpview was relentless in its effort to find a goal to tie the game. But the Springville defensive line stopped a late-game Thunderbird rally to secure the win.

“I’m really proud, our defensive line has had a lot of change because of an ACL tear in our back line, so a lot of girls are stepping in and playing positions they aren’t comfortable with,” said Jensen.

“They were really solid and Timpview is a great opponent. Timpview does a really good job of rotating offensively, so it was really difficult for us to pick that up in the first half, but we did a better job in the second half.”

In the end, the defense and the Neves-to-Neves connection proved invaluable in the win with both Sophie and Mattie recording a goal.

“It’s been a lot of fun to coach both of them,” said Jensen.

“I’ve been coaching them since they were little, so I’ve seen them grow up and become amazing soccer players. I’m really proud of how hard they work, and they’re just humble players.”

“You can’t find a more committed, more humble, more hardworking player than Sophie Neves. She’s one of our team captains and she just puts her head down and does the work.”

“I’m really happy and excited for her to go to a nationally-ranked program and do amazing things.”