SLCC's Two Unbeaten Soccer Teams Were Built in Opposite Ways

Both Salt Lake Community College soccer teams reached the fourth week of September unbeaten. The women were 7-0-1 and the men 6-0-2 after eight matches each, according to SLCC's official schedules, and the women led the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings on September 24. The two teams share a home field, the Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, and a conference. Their rosters could hardly be more different.

Twenty-three of the 27 players on the women's roster list Utah hometowns. On the men's roster, 16 of 29 list hometowns outside the United States. One program is a Utah high-school soccer story. The other recruits from eight other countries. Both work.

How many Utah players are on SLCC's soccer rosters?

The women's roster reads like a map of the Wasatch Front and Cache Valley. Three players came from Ridgeline High in Millville: Ila Webb, Keagan Grange and Kenley Parkinson. Two came from Skyridge in Lehi, Leah and Kate Scoville, and two from Mountain Ridge in Herriman, Jayla McFarland and Natalie Shober. The rest of the Utah contingent runs from Syracuse and Layton to Sandy, Spanish Fork and Saratoga Springs. Only four players list hometowns outside Utah: goalkeeper Manaka Shindo and forward Nanami Nakagawa from Japan, Seanna Harris from Chandler, Arizona, and Kayla Howell from Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

The men's roster runs the other way. It lists four players from Canada, three each from Brazil and Portugal, two from France, and one each from Bolivia, England, Ghana and Mexico. Nine players list Utah hometowns, among them midfielder Taylor Kogan of St. George, forward Evan Beus of Alpine and goalkeepers JC Sanchez of Riverton and Ariel Martinez of West Valley. Four more come from New York, Virginia, South Carolina and California.

Who has scored for the women?

The women's goals have come from all over that Utah roster. In the 4-0 opener against No. 14 Laramie County in Murray on August 22, Lizzie Cowdell of Sandy scored twice and Alyssa Boydston of Pleasant View once. Ashley Price of Salt Lake City scored against Northwest College, Kenley Parkinson struck from outside the box at USU Eastern, and Oakley Zenger of Sandy scored twice in a 6-0 win over Truckee Meadows on September 17. Kennedy Prestwich of Saratoga Springs scored in that match and had the only assist in the win over CSI. Shober led the team with four assists after September 17, SLCC's recap said.

The leading scorer is the Arizonan. Harris had six goals after the Truckee Meadows match, by SLCC's count, and scored twice more on September 19, when the Bruins came from 1-0 down to beat College of Southern Idaho 3-1. She converted a 68th-minute penalty, Grange gave SLCC the lead in the 77th, and Harris finished it. The only match the women have not won was a 1-1 draw at No. 20 Snow College on September 10, where Harris scored from Shober's pass. The Bruins have conceded five goals in eight matches and never more than one in a game. (Rankings are as SLCC's recaps printed them on the date of each match.)

Who has scored for the men?

The men's attack has an international spine. Esteban Fernandes, a centre back from St. Etienne, France, scored from a free kick in the opening minute of the season, a 3-0 home win over No. 13 Arizona Western on August 20, and again from a free kick against Northwest College. Mekhi Haughton-Parris of Reading, England, whom SLCC's recap calls a University of Kentucky transfer, scored against Arizona Western and had six assists after September 17. Alan Guzman of Ocotlan, Mexico, and Sharif Sayawu of Agona Duakwa, Ghana, led the team with five goals each at that point. Guzman's 84th-minute header saved a 2-2 draw at USU Eastern in the conference opener.

The Utahns have made their marks too. Kogan scored against Casper College and converted a penalty against Northwest after Beus was fouled. Beus scored in that match as well. Martinez made two saves in the 5-0 win over Casper and kept a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw with CSI on September 19. Before the season, SLCC's recaps say, the men beat three NCAA programs in August scrimmages: Utah Tech, Colorado Mesa and Westminster. Their ranking in those recaps rose from No. 16 in August to No. 4 by September 17.

What is next for SLCC soccer?

Both teams travel this week. They were scheduled to play at Pacific Northwest Christian College in Kennewick, Washington, on Thursday, September 24, and at North Idaho College on Saturday, September 26. The men's match at North Idaho is the one to watch. North Idaho led the Scenic West men's standings at 5-0 in conference play and 9-0-1 overall on September 24, so something has to give: North Idaho's perfect conference record or SLCC's unbeaten one.

Both teams then return to Herriman to host USU Eastern on Saturday, October 3, the women at 11 a.m. and the men at 1:30 p.m. Snow College visits on October 15. SLCC's schedules list the Region 18 tournament for October 29-31, a district playoff on November 7 and the NJCAA national tournament from November 15 to 21.

Why the rosters look different

Junior-college rosters turn over fast. Every player on both lists is a freshman or a sophomore, redshirts included, so each season's team is recruited almost from scratch. SLCC's two soccer programs have answered that in opposite ways, one close to home and one around the world, and both reached the fourth week of the season without a loss. The results are on the SLCC school page, and the Scenic West standings will show by October which approach holds up in the Region 18 race.

Key facts:

• Records (through Sept. 23, 2026): women 7-0-1, men 6-0-2, both unbeaten in the Scenic West.
• Home field: Zions Bank Training Center, Herriman, for both teams.
• Women's roster: 23 of 27 players list Utah hometowns; head coach Amy Lepeilbet.
• Men's roster: 16 of 29 players list hometowns outside the United States, nine in Utah; head coach Mark Davis.
• Leading scorers: Seanna Harris (women, six goals after Sept. 17, two more on Sept. 19); Alan Guzman and Sharif Sayawu (men, five each after Sept. 17).
• Rankings as SLCC's recaps printed them: men No. 4 and women No. 6 on Sept. 17 and 19.
• Next big match: men at North Idaho, 5-0 in the Scenic West and 9-0-1 overall, on Sept. 26.