Turning the corner
ST. GEORGE - In years past, the Snow Canyon girls' soccer program rarely carried the notoriety of a winner.
So when Ken Kunde took over the reigns eight seasons ago, the rebuilding phase officially began.
Although it took time, familiar losing campaigns - like a forgettable 3-10 mark in 2001 - are now a thing of the past.
The Warriors have turned the corner, reeling off three straight .500 or better seasons, with this year's 9-4-3 mark this decade's best finish, and Tuesday's 1-0 first round win over Maple Mountain in the first round of the 4A state playoffs is another stepping stone.
"We're very pleased with where our program's at," Kunde said. "The girls' work ethic is probably one of the biggest differences ... They work so hard in the offseason to be ready for games like these."
The Warriors' sideline leader added the team has helped better prepare up-and-coming players from the community. Thus, when they arrive to play varsity ball, they're not overwhelmed.
No better example than sophomore Cecilee Horlacher who kicked in the game-winning goal with 1:54 left to play in the first half.
The midfielder doesn't look like an underclassman, nor does her play on the field. On the game-winning kick, Horlacher showed poise and control.
Senior and team leader Liz Ricks took ball possession into Maple Mountain territory down the left sideline. Horlacher - with just three goals on the season prior - then spaced herself, spun away from her defender, and proceeded towards the penalty box.
The crisp pass left the sophomore one-on-one with Golden Eagles goalkeeper Kara Betts, where eventually the ball had enough zip to go underneath her block attempt.
"It's really exciting," said Horlacher of her first playoff goal. "We expected them (Maple Mountain) to be very good, like any playoff team. But we came in focused, aggressive, and wanting the win."
Snow Canyon controlled the ball and tempo for most of the contest, which is critical against a Golden Eagles offense that came in averaging 3.6 goals per game.
Although standout forward Baylee Nielsen put fear into the Warriors defense with physical play and a never-quit attitude, she rarely had clean looks at the goal.
Warriors goal-keeper Kylie Moore earned the shutout.
The win marks Snow Canyon's first postseason win since 2006. They will hope to keep it going against either Lehi or Olympus on Thursday.
My wonderful cousins came to support Cecilee during her game.
Me and Toria & Irene after the game.
My two ALL STARS!!!
We played Lehi for another leg of the State Title, but we lost. We didn't get BEAT, we lost. We happened to score on ourselves by a deflection. It happened in the last 7 minutes of the game. It could've been ours, but they played like champions. They were awesome. The other team was quite a bit bigger and probably older. We had a great time watching the girls play. I have alot of family up in Northern Utah and it was so sweet of some of them to come and support Cecilee. I sure love my family. Thank you for supporting her. 
This series of pictures is hilarious, it's from the Dixie game that they played in Sept. She is a little aggressive, but who isn't when they play soccer. You have to be if you want to score.
OOPPS!!!! She knocked the ball out of the goalie's hands and the goalie bumped her own player.
"OOPS, Did she do that?" Well her focus is on the ball in the far right side of the picture.
She shoots and she SCORED!!!!
These are some pictures that were taken by a professional photographer at one of Cecilee's games. She is a fun little player to watch. Of course there is a whole team of girls that are also on the field with her but of course, being the mother, I bought the pictures of my soccer player. 
Our girls are playing for state starting today. They play Maple Mountain at 4:00 today. The girls have come a long way. They have become a soccer family and play together and know each other really well on the soccer field. Today they have got to come together and win. I am so proud of my daughter Cecilee and the little athlete that she is. I have enjoyed watchign her grow up in the sport of soccer. She is incredible and has learned so much from all of the different coaches that have coached her. Her dad was her very first coach from the time she was 4 when she started playing and he still coaches her. He is the first one to tell her if she had a good game or if there is something he saw that she needs to work on. I remember watching her as a little girl and Bryan coaching from the side and sometimes watching her cry because Bryan is yelling at her, telling her that,"Soccer is a RUNNING sport, get running!!!" She did NOT like running. She has definately matured since then. I want Cecilee to know how much I love her and how proud I am of her as her mother. (Since this is MY blog, I can). I have enjoyed watching her mature and grow up into this beautiful young woman who keeps her standards high and plays with integrity and dignity. I love you Cec, and play your heart out and WIN today. 
Bryan playing football with the boys, but still playing coach with the whistle in his mouth. Love the visor, he thinks he's so cool.
Bryan and Andy coaching the boys. Major loves to tag along with the big boys and thinks that he's one of the boys.
Bryan and Major coaching the team.
Me and my ever growing family. We try and be festive and dress up with a theme. Not quite sure what we are going to do this year. We will see.
One of the MANY fun families in our neighborhood. We ALWAYS look forward to her fun costumes for her adorable family.
This is taken from my front door.
This is the soup table
