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Draper Journal

Juan Diego’s excellent season comes to abrupt end

Jun 14, 2021 01:46PM ● By Catherine Garrett

By Catherine Garrett | [email protected]

The Juan Diego Catholic High School boys soccer team finished a 15-3 season with a 2-1 loss to Stansbury in the 4A state quarterfinals. The squad went into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and defeated Logan 5-0 in the first round before the second-round loss. “It was a Cinderella season that came to an abrupt end, but it was also one heck of a story. No one picked us as the top team in our division or 4A,” said co-head coach Joe Alamilla, noting the team’s nine goals the entire 2019 season. “This year we scored 59 goals and gave up less than one goal a game on average.” Senior Nihau Siaou Chin scored 19 goals and had seven assists to lead the team offensively while junior Tekaki Sangue had seven goals and eight assists with senior Keegan Gilbert recording 14 assists. Senior goalie Matthew Osmundson, who is “one of the top-rated goalies in the nation,” according to Alamilla, had seven shutouts. Also key for the Region 10 champion team this season were senior defenders Brock Jones, Aaron Kolff and Aidan Hodlmair, midfielders Jack Donohoe and Max Merhi and forward Michael Durazo. “I credit the turnaround of the program to the seniors,” Alamilla said. “We had a lot of senior leadership this year and it really showed in our performance.” Others on the team were Jasper Abanto, Gael Almonacid, Alberto Anaya, Jayce Clarke, Jesus Granados Cruz, Ethan Duncan, Haydn Duncan, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Denzel Gonzales Flores, Keegan Gilbert, Adam Green, Danny Gutierrez, Hobie Hodlmair, Brady Jones, Kai Kelly Jones, Nick Kimball, Peter Mirrione, Porter Moore, Matthew Osmundson, Hunter Poulsen, Christian Sanchez, Tekaki Sangue, Dylan Santiago, Emmanuel Trujillo, Mato Vanaa, Gavin Vandam and Chenkai Zhao. “We are proud of this season, the record offensive and defensive milestones we reached and being ranked No. 1 in the region,” Alamilla said. Also on the coaching staff for JDCHS this season was co-coach Brian Rhay along with Joe Baca and Mark Hutter. (Photo courtesy Joe Alamilla)