A resurgent Redmond girls soccer team finally defeats rival Ridgeview

REDMOND —

The emotions unleashed by the Panthers as the final horn sounded Tuesday night at Ridgeview High School were nearly nine years in the making.

HERE

HERE

Redmond High girls soccer had never defeated crosstown rival Ridgeview — a school that opened in 2012. So after hanging on to a narrow 2-1 victory, the Panthers whooped and hollered and celebrated together at midfield.

“This has been my goal since I started,” said Redmond junior forward Dagne Harris, who was quick to point out that the Panthers lost to the Ravens twice in 2019 by a score of 8-0.

“It’s been so cool to be part of building this. It’s just been a dream come true being part of this group and watching them improve every single year, and being able to contribute something to that.”

Harris — who had 20 goals in 2019 and has seven this season — said the Redmond program has basically been in rebuilding mode since the arrival of Ridgeview, which has been the cream of the Class 5A Intermountain Conference the last few years.

The arrival of seven freshmen to the Panthers (3-1) this season has brought new life to the program.

Two of those freshmen stepped up to score goals in Tuesday night’s historic victory.

Late in the first half, Jillian Bremont took a long pass in the box from Rory Eldridge, and booted the ball into the back of the net to break a 1-1 tie. It would prove to be the winning goal, as the teams went scoreless in the second half.

Freshman Charrisse Wedding scored first for Redmond, corralling a high ball in front of the goal and planting it past the Ridgeview goalie for a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.

“The last few years, we’ve had one, two or three freshmen join our program each year,” said Redmond coach Martha Segura. “It’s really tough to build a program when you don’t have the freshmen coming in every year. This is the first time that I’ve had a strong group of freshmen, and it’s pushing us to be better. We’ve got seven freshmen who are very good. It’s pushing all of our girls to work harder and be better.”

That includes Harris, the team leader.

“I am so confident in this group,” Harris said. “These freshmen have just brought new excitement and new energy into our team and program, and I am so pumped for what we’re going to bring to this season and next season. They just brought something completely different to the table. It’s just so much more of a team than the last two years. It feels really good.”

Ridgeview’s Kensey Gault tied the game 1-1 on a breakaway goal in the 21st minute. But Bremont broke that tie just 15 minutes later, and the Panthers clung to their lead in the second half as the Ravens (0-4) battled for the equalizer until the final horn. They came extremely close to scoring off a corner kick with less than 10 seconds remaining.

Redmond goalkeeper Alyssa McConnell finished with six saves.

The Panthers’ turnaround was apparent last Friday, when they defeated Mountain View 4-0. Segura said they had not beaten the Cougars in at least eight years, and in those eight years, Redmond netted only three goals against them. That victory was a springboard to their emotional win over Ridgeview.

“We’ve had all the confidence in the world in our girls,” Segura said. “It was about them putting it together on the field. We knew they could do it, and they finally did it, and I don’t want them to look back. I want them to run with this confidence.”

While there will be no state playoffs this season due to COVID-19, Segura said the Intermountain Conference plans to hold a postseason tournament the second week of April, and the Panthers’ goal is to earn the top seed and win the tournament.

“With this group, we have the energy and the confidence,” Harris said, “and I’m really excited to take it all the way.”