{"id":635633,"date":"2026-04-29T04:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T04:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635633\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T04:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T04:35:26","slug":"high-school-boys-soccer-olympus-beats-alta-for-the-first-time-in-at-least-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635633\/","title":{"rendered":"High school boys soccer: Olympus beats Alta for the first time in at least 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Olympus did something it hasn\u2019t done in at least 25 years.<\/p>\n

The Deseret News\u2019 boys soccer records go back to the 2000-2001 season, and since then, Alta has been a perfect 8-0 against the Titans.<\/p>\n

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The Hawks, who are the defending 5A champs, have also been one of the favorites to repeat this year. Before Tuesday, they had a perfect 9-0 region record and were undefeated at home.<\/p>\n

All of that was spoiled for Alta on Tuesday as Olympus went into Sandy, and for the first time in at least 25 years, left with a 2-1 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a great win and definitely a good confidence booster,\u201d said Olympus head coach Isaac James. \u201cThis Alta team, they\u2019ve been top dogs for a long time and won the state championship last year and are probably favored to win it in 5A again this year. So, it\u2019s definitely a good win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alta\u2019s Mateo Lopez leaps over Olympus\u2019 Landon Blout in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

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Olympus\u2019 Henry Stoker and Alta\u2019s Isaac Gates compete for the ball in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

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Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

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Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\"0428prpboyssoccer.spt\"<\/p>\n

Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

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Alta\u2019s Isaac Gates and Olympus\u2019 Marc Mercadal compete for the ball in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\"0428prpboyssoccer.spt\"<\/p>\n

Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\"0428prpboyssoccer.spt\"<\/p>\n

Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\"0428prpboyssoccer.spt\"<\/p>\n

Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

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Olympus celebrates scoring against Alta in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

\"0428prpboyssoccer.spt\"<\/p>\n

Olympus and Alta compete in a boys soccer game at Alta High School in Sandy on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News<\/p>\n

It was Olympus that pressed to start, and they controlled the pace for most of the game while Alta was on the back foot.<\/p>\n

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The scoring didn\u2019t come immediately, but Olympus largely kept the ball in the final third, and it paid off in the 31st minute.<\/p>\n

It came on a free kick from the midfield. Marc Mercadal<\/a> soared it behind the Hawks\u2019 defense, and Peter Gilbert<\/a> got a head on it for his first goal of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit ironic that was the goal we scored, because air balls are not our forte, and we missed a couple of other opportunities that were available on the ground,\u201d James said. \u201cGreat goal from Peter. Excited that he got that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The momentum stuck with the Titans into the second half. Similar to the first half, Olympus kept earning chances at the goal but kept coming up just short.<\/p>\n

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Olympus often kept the ball by taking it away from Alta after its first touches, and overall won 50\/50 balls in neutral territory.<\/p>\n

The lead grew in the 55th minute when a throw-in from Andrew Goddard<\/a> was headed in by Ezra Heyes<\/a> for the 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a classic throw-in that we usually do,\u201d Heyes said. \u201cOn those throw-ins, I\u2019m just like the target guy. It was an absolutely amazing feeling when I saw it going in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always hated playing on their grass. It\u2019s bumpy, slow, and it\u2019s absolutely amazing to beat them at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a team as good as Alta, even a 2-0 lead with only 25 minutes to play isn\u2019t enough to guarantee a win.<\/p>\n

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That showed as just three minutes later, Alta\u2019s Jack McAllister<\/a> crossed in a corner kick, which Andrew Affleck<\/a> redirected into the back of the net.<\/p>\n

After that, Alta got some of its confidence back, and it was Olympus who was on the back foot. A major scare for the Titans came in the 63rd minute after an Alta shot attempt went off the post.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of goals ahead is enough against Alta,\u201d James said. \u201cI\u2019m definitely glad we got that second goal, and obviously we needed it. They were about one inch from tying it up with that shot that came off the post. So sometimes the ball bounces our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Olympus is likely too far out to make any real run at a Region 6 championship, the win was a big confidence booster that it needed as the state tournament looms just weeks away.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis win, it\u2019s really important for us,\u201d James said. \u201cI think we struggle when we play from behind. It changes the whole tone of the game. It was great that we came out and took the game to Alta. I don\u2019t think that happens to Alta very often. I am proud of the guys. They worked their butts off and played great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday, Olympus did something it hasn\u2019t done in at least 25 years. The Deseret News\u2019 boys soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[193267,237552,67833,49,48,1982,237554,237553,167938,561,82],"class_list":["post-635633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alta","tag-alta-high-school","tag-boys-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-deseret-news","tag-isaac-james","tag-laura-seitz","tag-olympus","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}