Maeser Boys Soccer Continues Impressive, Unbeaten Run | News, Sports, Jobs – Daily Herald

Only one high school boys soccer team in Utah Valley is both undefeated and atop the ratings percentage index (RPI) rankings for its classification.

No, it isn’t Salem Hills (which is undefeated) or Provo (which is ranked No. 1 in the current Class 5A RPI rankings).

The team that has both of those achievements is the Maeser Lions, which have the top RPI ranking in Class 2A and have a 9-0 record after their 12-1 home win over Telos on Monday.

It’s something special for Maeser’s long-time coach Dustin Simmons to see.

“We’re having our best season ever,” Simmons said Monday. “This is the best start we’ve ever had and we’re building on it, continuing to get better.”

He had seen many years where the Lions struggled to even be competitive or found themselves matched up against excellent 3A opponents.

But with the charter school having be reclassified into Class 2A this year just as the team is improving skill-wise has put Maeser in the ideal position for the 2021 season.

“We’ve got a really great group, even though we only have four seniors,” Simmons said. “This is probably the most technically gifted team we have had. We have also spent a lot of time focusing on our mental performance. That has paid off in both close games and emotionally charged games.”

He pointed to a 3-2 double-overtime win at Rowland Hall as an example of both seeing his team stand tall as well as showing what it is capable of.

“That was when we realized we could have something this year,” Simmons said. “We’ve got a lot of good players.”

Most of Maeser’s wins, like the one on Monday, have come in comfortable fashion. He felt like his team was able to shake off the Spring Break rust, work on some basics and get a lot of players onto the field, all of which were big.

That’s because the Lions have a showdown with a dangerous American Heritage when the Patriots come to Maeser on Thursday. The first game was a 2-1 Lion win but was very emotional, Simmons said.

“We will come out wanting to achieve our goals,” Simmons said. “Doing that will make us successful, whether we win or not. We’re trying to focus on the things we can control and winning our first region title is something we can control. Doing that would be fantastic.”

It would be a big accomplishment for Maeser, which only made it to the state playoffs once before the RPI era arrived. The Lions have only every played two state games in a tournament but Simmons believes this team could do more.

“We want to make a deep run,” Simmons said. “It would nice to be able to do that. Our goal is to make it to Rio Tinto Stadium, which would be a really cool thing for our school and our region.”

In order to achieve those lofty aspirations, however, he said his team has to be the better team with regards to miscues.

“The big thing is capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes while minimizing your own mistakes, especially on defense,” Simmons said. “Those are the teams who go far. We have some youth in the back, with a sophomore keeper and two juniors and two freshmen on our back line. Minimizing mistakes will be important but if we do that, we should do well.”

The Lions will look to take another step toward an undefeated regular season when they host American Heritage in Lindon on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Newsletter