Corner Canyon beat Copper Hills 2-1 in the 6A girls soccer first round on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Senior Layla Valadez scored a goal and added an assist to lead the No. 5 Chargers past the No. 12 Grizzlies and into the state quarterfinals.
Clair Call netted the other Corner Canyon goal. Alyson Tikalsky scored the lone goal for Copper Hills.
The Chargers' defensive record carried into the postseason. Corner Canyon allowed just 12 goals during the regular season, an average of 0.7 per game, with goalkeepers Olivia Edwards and Elissa Curry combining for six shutouts. That back line faced its stiffest test against a Copper Hills offense that produced a 6A-best 70 goals this season.
Camila Palafox (26 goals, 15 assists) and Josephine Cannon (21 goals, 13 assists) combined for 47 of those 70 goals. Corner Canyon held both scorers off the sheet.
Copper Hills entered the playoffs at 11-7. The Grizzlies' firepower was not enough against a Chargers defense that bent but did not break.
Valadez, a team captain and University of Utah commit, leads the Chargers with 10 goals this season. She scored three times in Corner Canyon's final five regular-season games as the team won four of five to close the regular season.
Ahead of the playoff opener, second-year head coach Kelsey Haag praised Valadez in the Deseret News' Oct. 12 athlete-of-the-week feature. "When the goal is in sight, she will do whatever it takes to get there," Haag said.
Corner Canyon finished the regular season 10-7. The Chargers reached the 6A quarterfinals last year before falling 2-0 to eventual champion Syracuse.
Up next: a quarterfinal matchup against No. 4 American Fork, which beat No. 13 Riverton 1-0 on Tuesday.
