In heartbreaking fashion, the 2024 girls soccer season ended a bit early for Jordan High School. 

The Beetdiggers fell at home in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament with a 3-2 overtime loss to Sky View. Seeded 14th, Jordan was looking to advance to the second round but came up short when Sky View scored an overtime goal to break a 2-2 tie. 

Jordan led 1-0 at halftime but allowed two second-half goals while scoring one more of its own after halftime. Jordan’s Kyrie Evans and Emberly Camacho scored goals, with Julia Willham getting an assist. 

On the season, the Beetdiggers were 10-8. They were 6-6 in Region 10, finishing in fourth place. Last season, Jordan was 4-8 in league play and 7-10 overall. This was the first time since 2019 that Jordan finished with a winning record. That year, the Beetdiggers were 8-6. The 10 victories this season were the most for the program since going 10-6 in 2015. 

Reflecting on the season, head coach Justin Jahnke was pleased with how hard the girls worked and with their performance on the field. 

“We played our style; we played Jordan soccer,” he said. “It was great to see the girls working hard, keeping possession, defending hard and attacking bravely. Those were all internal goals we set for each other as a program.”

Though Jahnke didn’t like how the season ended, he was impressed with how well the girls played together and with the effort they put out each day. He said it was easy to coach this group. 

“I was disappointed to drop the playoff match versus Sky View, but hats off to them; they never quit,” Jahnke said. “Our team played together as a unit. Our chemistry was great to see—everyone helping each other on and off the field. What stood out to me was the level our training sessions were at. All those girls were locked in at training, giving 100% of what they had to give. They were awesome to coach, as all I needed to do was focus on the soccer. They brought the motivation, intensity and discipline themselves.”

Jordan got region play off to a great start this season. The Beetdiggers won their first two games of league play, defeating Cottonwood 5-0 and Hillcrest 3-1. After a close 1-0 loss at Park City on Aug. 26, Jordan beat Tooele 5-2 and Murray 1-0 to improve to 4-1 in Region 10. The rest of the season had some ups and downs, but Jordan still outscored its region foes collectively by a 20-14 count and scored 32 goals overall this season while giving up 19. 

Defensively, the Beetdiggers had eight shutouts, thanks largely to the play of goalie June Joseph. Jahnke will be fortunate to have the sophomore back for two more seasons. 

As the season progressed, Jahnke made some adjustments, some of which were helpful and some not as much. A variety players got experience in different positions, as Jahnke used many contributors. 

“We changed formations and tactics after the first half of the season,” Jahnke said. “You’ve seen everyone once, and teams and coaches pick up on patterns. The more dynamic we played, the harder we were to play. At times I got too fancy for my own good, so I take blame for some of the losses on the back side of our schedule. Bringing in some girls from JV helped and moving some of our girls to different spots made us less predictable.”

Two Jordan players led the team with 10 goals each. Willham, a senior, and freshman Sydney Vessey paced the Beetdiggers in scoring, while Camacho, another freshman, had a team-high eight assists. Willham had seven assists of her own. Evans, a junior, had three goals, as did senior Paige Walters. 

Going forward, Jahnke hopes some changes will come to the Region 10 scheduling. 

This past season, Region 10 teams played two league games a week like all other regions. However, in Region 10, the games were Monday and Wednesday. Jahnke said the fast turnaround between games made it physically and mentally taxing on the players. 

“Rest and recovery would help,” he said. “Playing games on Monday and Wednesday is tough. One day of rest in between isn’t ideal for letting athletes recover athletically, not to mention mentally. Our girls are not only high performers on the pitch, but they all are amazing students, so they take school seriously. This is something I wish would change, as [Park City head coach] Anthony DiCicco and I have brought this to the attention of our region board a couple times.”

Jahnke is excited about the prospects for 2025 and believes his team should continue to improve and be a factor in the region race. With Vessey and Camacho in the program for three more years, not to mention Evans and Joseph coming back, the future could be bright. Other key contributors this past season were juniors Chloe Glauser and Jocelyn Hauber. 

“We’re returning a good number of varsity players, as well as looking at multiple JV players who had a great season, so I’m very hopeful,” Jahnke said. “The expectations will be the same as always: compete in region, test ourselves with competitive nonregion games and push ourselves to do the best we can. I’m hoping for another big freshmen class to push the girls that are returning, as I think the competition does well for us.” λ