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Judge Memorial tames North Sanpete to clinch spot in state title game

(Tom Wharton | For The Tribune) Maggie Bailey, Judge Memorial.

Sandy • Everything went right for the Judge Memorial girls’ soccer team Friday night at Jordan High.

The Bulldogs got five goals from six players to take a dominating 6-1 victory over outmanned North Sanpete in the Class 3A state semifinals.

The relatively easy win also allowed Judge coach Scott Platz to rest his starters for the last 20 minutes, a move that could be important with the Bulldogs facing a quick turnaround.

They play nemesis Morgan for the 3A state championship at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The Trojans, who edged Manti 1-0 in the first semifinal, beat Judge 4-3 and 5-1 during the regular season.

“It helps to save some legs,” Platz said about the ability to rest his starters. “We will see. That [Morgan versus Manti] was a war. I guess we kind of benefitted from that. But they had the early game and sat for an extra two hours.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME <br>In a night where five Judge players scored, Maggie Bailey’s two second-half goals gave the Bulldogs a chance to rest players for a Saturday afternoon title game against Morgan. Bailey played a solid all-around game for the sharp-passing Bulldogs.

Judge came out sharp and aggressive early. Though the Bulldogs didn’t score until Bella Coronado buried a 32-yard shot about 18 minutes into the game, Platz was pleased with the early effort.

“We came out on fire,” he said. “There has been a question the last couple of games of how quickly we’ve come out. I’m proud of what they did. Our possession game came a long ways. We were not trying to just possess but to do some damage.”

That aggressiveness was obvious from the beginning as Judge was passing crisply and giving goalie Amani Badran little to do with most of the action on the North Sanpete end of the field.

Judge took a 3-0 lead on goals by Cicely Foley and Jillian Nelson before a long shot by Sophie Duijn gave North Sanpete a sliver of hope late in the first half.

But Judge got two quick goals from Maggie Bailey in the second half and another by Killian Lamanna to quickly balloon their lead to 6-1 and allow Platz to begin bringing in some substitutes.

Bailey talked about her dream of playing for the state title.

“It was something I wanted to do for my teammates my senior year,” she said. “It was all the girls. We wanted to get to state, and we’re there.”

And what about Morgan?

“It’s going to be a tough game, but I think we can do it,” she said. “We had a good game against them, but we can’t give them goals like the last game.”