The 2011 season may have just ended for the West High school boys' soccer team with a first-round state tournament loss, but that hasn't stopped the team from making plans for 2012.

After all, nine starters will return to a team that played to a 10-7-1 record and outplayed many of its opponents.

"I have really high hopes for next year," junior Carlos Sanchez said. "Anything less than a region championship will be unacceptable."

That's a lofty goal for a team that finished fourth in Region 2 this season. The region will see a shakeup after realignment. Granger and Hunter will remain in the region with West. Kearns, Taylorsville and Viewmont will join. Viewmont and West are the only two teams in the future Region 2 that qualified for the playoffs this season.

While the competition appears to be softening for the Panthers, Sanchez is concerned that the team tended to play down to its competition. The Panthers were 3-2-1 against teams that finished below them in Region 2.

"Mostly it was just not being able to pull out the close games," coach Kris Hamlet said. West was 1-5-1 in games that went to overtime.

Another glaring problem this season was West's inability to score. The Panthers scored only 20 goals in 12 region games despite creating a persistent and dangerous attack. The finishing at the end of that attack was lacking. Several games saw West put seven or eight shots on goal, hitting the post or being foiled by tidy goalkeeping.

After playing fullback for much of the year, Sanchez was put at forward for the final two weeks of the season and ended up tied for the team lead in goals with Nikki Goller with six. He'll be up front again next season thanks to the development of freshmen fullbacks Chris Osborne and Adam Wilson.

Sanchez, Goller, Nick Morelos, Thomas Metos and goalie Daniel Ainsworth make up what Sanchez calls the "Fab Five." They all started as sophomores — Morelos for Cyprus — and will be the key to West's success next season.

In that sophomore season with Cyprus, Morelos scored 13 goals to lead the team. With the Panthers, however, Morelos scored only three goals, two coming on penalty kicks. More will be expected from him next season.

More than anything else, Ainsworth expects the team's growth and experience to make the difference in 2012. Only Jamal Ebbit and Martin Jiminez — the team's captain — will leave the team. Osborne and Wilson will only get better. And the Panthers will have a crux of senior leadership and drive.

"We'll have plenty of seniors and all the emotions that seniors bring," Ainsworth said. —

Panthers looks to next year

The West boys' soccer team is making big plans for 2012 since nine starters are returning.

The team struggled to score in 2011 but got a boost when Carlos Sanchez moved to forward for the last two weeks of the season.

The Panthers hope that Nick Morelos can get back to his scoring prowess of 2010 when he scored 13 goals for Cyprus. Hayes Hicken, Highland soccer • A penalty shootout usually stirs up all kinds of nerves for goalies and kick takers but apparently not for Ram keeper Hayes Hicken. In Highland's 0-0 state quarterfinal match with Box Elder May 20, Hicken stopped all three penalty shots he faced for the 3-0 penalty shootout win.