How Keana Tolman and a formation shift have changed the fortunes of Cedar High girls soccer

Through six games in the 2022 season, the Cedar Reds girls’ soccer team has already matched its win total from last season and equaled its in-Region 10 wins from last year with a 5-1 showing on Tuesday night in Hurricane.

There are multiple factors to the Reds’ early 5-1 (3-0) start.

A return of key pieces like recent Southern Utah University commit junior Rylan Tebbs headlines the roster.

Stylistic changes from the coaching staff have also led to more offense from last year’s 5-12 (3-9) club.

Arguably the largest difference from last year to this year has been the play of senior Keana Tolman.

Tolman scored five goals in nine games in 2021.

It took three games to surpass that total in 2022.

Through her team’s first six games, Tolman has tallied 12 goals, including four against Canyon View, with two coming via penalty kick against the Falcons.

When asked what surprises her most about her start, Tolman says, “That I can actually shoot the ball.”

“My whole life I’ve been playing midfield, so I’ve been dribbling the ball and getting assists, which is why I had a lot more assists than I did goals. But this year when coach put me as a forward, he kept saying ‘One, two, shot’ and I think that’s why I’ve been scoring goals is because I don’t think, I just shoot.”

Tolman had 12 assists to lead Cedar last year, but the transition from playmaker to goal scorer has been seamless so far. Tolman is still averaging an assist per game.

She has scored at least one goal in every game and has at least two markers in four consecutive games.

Two goals and an assist against Dixie were followed by an equal performance against Crimson Cliffs.

Against Dixie, Tolman’s patience and ability to place a ball in the far corner stood out to head coach Scott Kamachi.

In Tuesday’s rout, Tolman might’ve played her best game to date filling in at center-mid, tallying two goals and a pair of assists.

Changes in formation have also led to Tolman having more of an offensive impact.

“Last year she was playing more of an offensive mid but was also a defensive mid because we weren’t trying to get scored on last year,” explained Kamachi. “We had a freshman keeper and a bunch of different reasons for that. This year, we just said okay ‘Let’s just push you up there and let’s get you more involved.’ We know she has that ability, but last year we just needed her as an offensive mid to work the ball to Rylan to get the ball out wide.”

“Tactically we’re playing a little differently than we did last year. Last year we were really young, and we played a certain way that didn’t give us a very good chance to score goals. This year, we’re younger than we were last year, but where we have the most experience is up top.”

Alongside the change in play style and tempo, Tolman’s hard work in the off-season has been paying dividends.

Tolman says she is focused on her playmaking, passing, and communication.

Even with a more aggressive style in their play, Cedar hasn’t seen any drop-off on defense.

In fact, their defense has improved through the first six games.

The Reds allowed 53 goals in their 17 games, a tad over three goals per contest while only scoring 34 goals, at just two per game.

Tolman has matched that goal-per-game production by herself this season, and Cedar is averaging over three goals a night.

Sophomore keeper Cambia Simper has allowed only seven goals in six games.

With Tolman being more active on the offensive end, her scoring ability has taken the pressure off Tebbs to create by herself.

“People know who Rylan is down here so a lot of times they’re double-teaming her so once they go to Rylan that opens up Keana up,” said Kamachi.

Tebbs scored 16 goals in 13 games and was the only scorer above five goals.

The chemistry between the two was on display in spades on Tuesday.

Both Tebbs and Tolman had two goals, and each could have had a hat trick, if not more.

In the opening minute, Tebbs fed Tolman a through ball that was just offsides.

Shortly after, Tebbs was fed another through ball, but missed wide in a one-on-one with the keeper.

Just five minutes in, Tebbs would bury the first goal for the Reds.

Tolman got on the board in the 37th minute, finding a narrow crease and letting a low shot go that found its way inside the far post.

“Me and Rylan work on that a lot in practice where she goes out wide and draws the defender and I cut in and she gives me a good through. We work on that a lot because I don’t think teams expect her to pass the ball right back to me.”

Anna Hall later found Tolman for her second goal of the match.

The two stars then connected, with Tolman hitting Tebbs to extend the lead to 4-0.

“Last year it was just her up there because I was more back. This year me and her worked a lot more out top and finishing and combination passes. I think that really helped us.”

Tolman added to her tally with an assist to freshman Gabby Gomez, who worked her way through the defense to mark the fifth goal for Cedar.

“They’ve just played a lot of soccer together so they kind of know how to read a defense and they play with their head up so they can see the defense,” said Kamachi. “A lot of younger girls play kind of have their head down and can’t see the whole field. They keep their head up and can see the whole field either through the middle or out of the back or if we see a chance to go forward quickly, we go forward and put some pressure on.”

The duo has played together for a decade — both on club and for Cedar — and even with the off-season work put in on communication by Tolman — she and Tebbs have an unspoken bond of knowing where each other are at all times.

“I feel like we just have that connection of I know where she’s going, and she knows where I’m going and so it works out really well for each other.”

With wins over Dixie and Crimson Cliffs under their belts already, and with those two programs off to a sluggish start, Cedar is in a great spot to finish above .500 in Region 10 for the first time in three years.

“We’d love to be able to be there, but there’s a lot of work that still has to go into it between now and then," said Kamachi. "We’re still young. Our backline, we have one junior. We have two juniors and a senior and the rest are sophomores and freshmen.”

Tolman is that lone senior, and between bursting onto the scene as the top goal scorer in 4A/Region 10 and completing high school work, Tolman is on pace to graduate from Southern Utah University with an associate degree by the end of the year in hopes of going into nursing.

Cedar will face its toughest in-region opponent to date on Thursday night when they take on 5-2 Snow Canyon in Cedar City.

In the first 4A RPI rankings released by the UHSAA on Thursday morning, Cedar was ranked as the third-best team in the class and the top team in Region 10.

Sean Ellertson is a sports reporter for the St. George Spectrum & Daily News. To continue to support his work, please subscribe to The Spectrum. Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanEllertson.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: An inside look at Keana Tolman's hot start for Cedar girl's soccer