This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Alta soccer was nationally ranked last year at the end of a Class 5A championship run — now the Hawks are drawing attention again.
Coming off a 3-2 win over previously undefeated rival Brighton, Alta is now listed at No. 17 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, posted on Tuesday. The Hawks are ranked No. 1 in Class 5A by The Tribune, and have scored 38 goals this season while only allowing seven. It's not quite the historic run they had last year, but they aren't doing too bad.
Currently, Davis is the only other undefeated squad in 5A. Viewmont is leading Region 2 again, Brighton nearly topped Alta last week, and there appears to be a number of Region 4 teams clumped together that could make a run.
It should be an interesting postseason.
• Jordan had just about no movement in the RivalsHigh Top 100, the only national rankings which has a Utah team. The Beetdiggers struggled early against Kearns, but eventually blew out the Cougars to hold steady at No. 47. It should be interesting to see how a game against Alta, the No. 2-ranked 5A team by The Tribune, should affect Jordan's position. A loss would surely lead to a freefall, but would a win punch them up much more? And would undefeated Alta get some national props if it won? Also, notably, Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.) rose into Maxpreps.com's Freeman top 25 after routing Cottonwood on ESPNU.
• Utah is home to several cross country powerhouses, and some are predicting the state's schools will be forces again on the national level. The National High School Coaches Association for cross country has both Davis boys (No. 3) and girls (No. 14) in its Division I top 25 teams this year. The American Fork boys check in at No. 14, and Ogden girls just barely make the list at No. 25.
— Kyle Goon
Twitter: @kylegoon