By Ron Bevan

Draper - It has taken three years to get to this spot for the Corner Canyon girls soccer team, but the Chargers are finally at a point where the team isn’t younger than everyone they play.

“We finally have our first big group of seniors,” Corner Canyon coach Krissa Reinbold said. “It is nice to have some veterans that have played for a while together.”

Corner Canyons boasts nine seniors on this year’s team. But the upcoming grades are also well represented. The Chargers field 10 players from the junior, sophomore and freshman ranks, balancing the girls across the varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams.

“We are well balanced across the board,” Baird said. “This will help this season and should give us a way to maintain the program through the next few years.”

The Chargers are led by veteran senior goalie Eden Withers, who has taken on the team captain role with vigor. 

“She is a great leader both on the field and off,” Reinbold said. “She is good with the girls and very motivational. They look up to her.”

Corner Canyon is also blessed with a new center midfielder in senior Sarah Rawle, who moved back to the area after living in California the past two years. 

“Rawle is a very solid player and somebody we can depend on to shore up the middle of our game,” Reinbold said. 

A sophomore leads the Charger attack. Forward Hallee Jones started every game last season as a freshman and is adding to her stats this season.

“She is an all-around phenomenal player,” Reinbold said. “When the team is looking to get to the goal they look to her.”

Jones struggled for a bit this season in scoring, which made her more hungry.

“We watched her work harder on her game after she wasn’t scoring,” Reinbold said. “Her hard work paid off for her and for us. It is fun to see a sophomore so willing to put the team on her back like she has.”

But injuries have plagued the Chargers this season. Corner Canyon is down five starters from what the team expected to have this year.

“We began the season with three players out for the season before they even got off the summer school break,” Reinbold said. “We lost two more early on. It has been a battle to replace them.”

The injuries have kept some goals from being reached by Corner Canyon this season, and the season started off a little rough. But the Chargers posted an impressive 5-0 win over Mountain View Sept. 10 that may have been the spark to ignite a run for the 4A state playoffs.

“In all of our games prior to the Mountain View game we had good ball movement,” Baird said. “We had moments where we were very good and we had moments when we weren’t consistent. But against Mountain View we put a solid consistent game together. I think the girls learned how to play together that day.”