Deseret News announces 2024 Ms. Soccer and All-State soccer teams

The superlatives involving Olympus soccer star Hope Munson are pretty jaw dropping.
On the first day college coaches were permitted to recruit her over a year ago, a who’s who of 87 college coaches reached out to Munson. One of those college coaches told Munson she’s the best left back in the recruiting class. Another said she’s the best right back in the country.
At the next level she projects as an elite attacking outside back, but for Olympus this season she contributed all over the field with 25 goals and 15 assists in leading the Titans to the 5A state championship.
For her tremendous talent level, not to mention her character on and off the field, Munson is this year’s Deseret News Ms. Soccer recipient, the 18th in the history of the award. She will graduate early and enroll at the University North Carolina in January.
Venturing outside of Utah to play college soccer has a huge priority for Munson from the start.
“My big thing is making a big impact on other people, like younger girls, especially from Utah. I feel like it’s hard for girls to get out of Utah. For me going to North Carolina, I wanted to prove to people that you can do whatever you want to, whatever you put your mind to,” said Munson.
The sky’s the limit on her potential. There’s enough interest from NWSL teams that you could probably jump straight to the pros if that’s the career path she wanted. Pursuing a college education and playing for NCAA powerhouse North Carolina is a priority, though, as is eventually playing for the U.S. Women’s National Team someday. She’s already been a regular fixture on youth national teams.
“Hopefully in 10 years I’ll be playing pro somewhere, hopefully on the full national team, and making big impact on little girls’ lives,” said Munson.
Munson’s path to stardom is product of tremendous athleticism, an unwavering work ethic, and a genuine love for the game that was contagious for Olympus’ roster this year. Her attitude was a big reason for the Titans’ success.
“It was definitely her athleticism to set her apart, but through the years, she’s really worked hard to fine tune those more technical skills to make her a more diverse,” said Olympus coach Jamie Evans.
This season, Munson set a new school record at Olympus with 25 goals and 15 assists, including five goals and four goals in the playoffs.
In the state championship game against Brighton, a 0-0 game through 100 minutes, Munson converted her penalty as the Titans claimed the state championship.
Versatility was the name of the game for Munson this season as she played all over the field for Olympus — up top, in the middle or at the back — sometimes all within the same game. Coach Evans said the flow of a game often dictated her role.
“We wanted to watch and see where the space presented itself, and then give her that freedom to then attack that space, go find the ball in that space,” said Evans. “The reason it evolved was because we wanted her to be able to attack the space that the other team was giving us, and we didn’t ever know right from the start where that was gonna be.”
When Munson played up top, she was sometimes double and triple teamed, which opened up space for teammates like Hallie Hansen and Kiera Bradley to also record double-digit goals.
Toward the latter half of the season, Munson played deeper in the midfield, which allowed the Titans to capitalize on Munson’s vision and distribution for her teammates. It still gave her plenty of freedom to step into the attack and take people on.
“If you have Hope running at goal, she’s so dangerous. I mean, Hope anywhere on the field is dangerous, but when you look at scoring goals, winning games, if you have her running at goal, she’s kind of hard to stop,” said Evans.
Munson loved those moments, because as she said, “I love taking people on.”
Whether it’s in the attack or defensively, she relishes 1v1 moments.
When Munson was a freshman, her coaches asked her to man mark Skyline star Lily Boyden — who was named Ms. Soccer that season — and though she admits “I got cooked a bit,” those type of games against elite talent helped raise her level.
When she was younger, Munson believes she was better at 1v1 defending than 1v1 attacking. Now she thinks it’s 50-50, but she still loves the satisfaction of a crunching tackle to win the ball.
“I like to take the 1 v1 because I like the satisfaction of winning the ball and getting a good tackle and clean tackle. That’s why I slide all the time, because I love getting a clean tackle and getting up with the ball your feet. It just feels good,” said Munson.
After Olympus bowed out in the 5A semifinals last season with a 2-1 loss to Maple Mountain, with a talented roster returning this season the goal was pretty simple from the outset.
“I feel like as a team, we were all just checked in the whole time. We were locked in from Day 1 when summer camp started. We said we’re winning state, and the team truly believed it, and I feel like that’s what made it different. And I think that’s what really like made us the championship team,” said Munson.
A big part of Munson’s individual success, which trickled down to team success, was approaching games and practices with the right mentality.
“I don’t do it as a job, it’s not a chore. I do it because I have fun and I love it. And I feel like that’s what sets me apart from other people is that I have a big love for the game. I genuinely want to be there, I want to be up every single day playing soccer with soccer ball my feet,” said Munson.
A dozen times this year, Munson was invited to go train with the Utah Royals of the NWSL. Among their players are two former Deseret News Ms. Soccer recipients, Michele Vasconcelos (Alta, 2011) and Mikayla Cluff (Davis, 2016)
Seeing first-hand the training habits of former Utah standouts who are now pros was invaluable for Munson as she prepares to take the next big step in her career. Her high school coach has already seen those professional qualities developing.
Evans had the privilege of coaching Munson for four years, and she believes Munson’s mentality to raise the level of her teammates will be a big asset as she moves up the soccer ladder.
“I think she’s one of those people that are very authentic. She just is who she is and doesn’t really have any apologies for who she is. So it’s someone that you are drawn to because she’s so authentic. She’s a very kind person,” said Evans. “She really set the tone for the success of this team. Her ability and her personality, everyone just believed in her. She’s the epitome of having someone that can talk the talk, and walk the walk. She’s a captain that can do anything, and she does it consistently, day after day after day.”