{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreigy5zsenvubo46y73zsewd6vkwqzz4r63cs466wguwfqa6t7wvame",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:ynwa33gtvzflpay5wzazrv2i/app.bsky.feed.post/3mma422pha6d2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreigckntmwtenjq55upwodgbuq46mx26auuq4i4lk7sbxelebhmhxoe"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 79931
  },
  "path": "/sports/2026/05/19/high-school-boys-soccer-4a-semifinal-recap/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-19T18:11:40.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.deseret.com",
  "textContent": "From Murray’s bright start, to Desert Hills’ incredible three-goal response, to a Murray red card, to Michael Martinez’s banger of an equalizer to freshman Parker Lawson’s late game winner, Tuesday morning’s 4A semifinal had just about every wave of emotion.\n\nIn the end, Lawson’s curling 24-yard strike proved to be the game winner as No. 1 Murray kept its perfect season intact with wild 4-3 win over No. 4 seed Desert Hills at Zions Bank Stadium.\n\nIt was just the second goal of the season for Lawson.\n\n“I had to get up there, because when I have a chance like that to win us this game, I have to. I don’t get many shots, so I just had to take it,” said Lawson, who said the fact that senior playmaker Carlos Nieto-Rosales passed him the ball in the first place gave him full confidence to uncork the shot in the first place.\n\n“Them having trust in me to be able to take shots like those in games like this, it’s awesome,” said Lawson, whose only other goal of the season came back on March 20.\n\nOn Monday though, it seemed like everyone was scoring goals in the seven-goal outburst.\n\nFour different Murray players scored goals, while Desert Hills’ Todd Simister scored a brace and Boone Heaton added his own goal. Both teams trailed in the second half and both teams led in the second half. In fact, Murray led twice after halftime — and most importantly at the final whistle.\n\n“That’s got to be one of, if not the most exciting game of this season,” said Murray’s Sebastian Garcia.\n\nWith the win, Murray advances to Friday’s 4A state championship game against the East-Crimson Cliffs winner at 4 p.m.\n\nTop-ranked Murray came out flying on Tuesday, with Jesse Maquin and Jack O’Bryan both scoring in the opening 17 minutes as the Spartans capitalized on a dominating stretch of possession in the opening 30 minutes of the match.\n\nMurray could’ve easily been up 4-0 after those 30 minutes with a bit better composure in front of goal.\n\n“I think just the energy. I think we were ready to play, and we were excited, you know. And we practiced, we watched film, and we rested and we came prepared,” said Nieto-Rosales about the bright start.\n\nDesert Hills slowly grew into the game and starting picking out its spots to transition the other way, and it finally broke through in the 32nd minute as Simister finished off a Heaton through ball to cut the lead to 2-1 by halftime.\n\nJust before halftime Maquin was red-carded on a dangerous tackle near the sideline, forcing the Spartans to play down a man the entire second half.\n\nAfter the late goal and late red card, Murray’s Garcia could see his teammates hanging their heads despite leading 2-1.\n\n“Why are our heads down? We’re still in it,” Garcia recalls try to pump up his team.\n\nRegardless, the negativity trickled into the second half as Desert Hills seized momentum to take an unikely 3-2 lead. Heaton tied the game at 2-2 on a point-blank redirection in the 49th minute, and then two minutes later Simister headed home his second goal of the game on a cross from Pierce Robinson for the 3-2 lead.\n\nAnthony Guerra chalked up a lack of communication coming out of a halftime as the culprit to conceding twice so quickly.\n\n“But once we started to figure out our rhythm, get into our groove again, we started to figure it out, we started to shut it down instantly. That’s one thing I’m really proud of my boys is the fact that we all are able to listen, communicate, and we’ll take it as positive feedback,” said Guerra.\n\nImmediately after going down 3-2, Murray’s captains organized a quick huddle on the field and Nieto-Rosales said the message was straight to the point.\n\n“We and had a little team talk. We know we’ve come far, we know it’s right there, so we just had to give everything and come back and thankfully we did,” he said.\n\nTwo minutes after Desert Hills’ go-ahead goal, Martinez delivered a sensation individual effort to level the score 3-3. He collected the ball near the left sideline, then darted 40 yards through traffic toward the top of the box before smashing a shot inside the far post for his 24th goal of the season.\n\n“It’s something I’m very comfortable in doing. I mean, I’ve done it multiple times throughout the season. I saw the opportunity and I took it, and it came out good,” said Martinez.\n\nGetting such a quick equalizer certainly helped Murray’s mentality the rest of the match.\n\nIt eventually capitalized with Lawson curving in the game winning goal in the 72nd minute after finding a pocket of space around the penalty and getting enough time to pick out the top corner of the net.\n\nNieto-Rosales delivered the winning assist to send Murray to the final, a game he and several of Murray’s seniors have experience with having lost to Ridgeline in the 2024 final.\n\n“We’re excited. It’s been since sophomore year that we made it to a final, so this year we’re definitely going to bring it home,” he said.",
  "title": "High school boys soccer: Murray outlasts Desert Hills in wild goal fest in 4A semifinals"
}