DRAPER — Make a mess.
All season long, the American Fork Cavemen have striven to bring that particular phrase, the team’s motto, to life.
The Cavemen came into the year young and largely inexperienced, a far cry from the past two seasons when American Fork won a state title in 2017, and then the title favorite all year long, in 2018.
Without some of the high expectations of the past, the Cavemen wanted to “make a mess.”
“We have a young team and people didn’t expect a lot of us,” American Fork senior Andi Baldwin said. “We just wanted to make a mess of everything.”
They did throughout the regular season, en route to the Region 4 title.
They did again through two rounds of the 6A state tournament, with wins over Westlake and Bingham.
Tuesday afternoon at Juan Diego Catholic High School, they did it once more.
No. 2 American Fork defeated No. 3 Northridge 1-0 in the second of two state semifinal matchups.
Baldwin netted the game’s only goal, while the American Fork defense locked down the Knights and premier goal scorer, Tiani Fonoti.
Baldwin’s game-winner came just before the end of the first half, on an American Fork set piece.
Ragan Fuller took a free kick, the end result of which was Baldwin’s score. In between the kick and the goal, there was quite a bit of action, however.
“Ragan had a free kick, she hit over and I headed it,” Baldwin said, describing the sequence.
- Watch replay: American Fork 1, Northridge 0
Baldwin’s header was saved by Northridge goalkeeper Jaycee Berry, but she wasn’t able to completely corral the ball.
“She bobbled it and I touched it in,” said Baldwin. “I knew it wasn’t a very hard header, so I just had to follow it. I kicked it in with my foot.”
From that point on, the game was decided by the American Fork defense, led by senior goalkeeper Haven Empey.
“Between my goalie and my defense, they read the game really well and they work really well together,” American Fork head coach Derek Dunn said. “I love my kids and I trust my kids. That is the kind of effort you see in a championship team.”
The Cavemen will face the No. 5 Davis Darts in the 6A state championship Friday at 11 a.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium, a rematch of a 2018 quarterfinal matchup won by Davis.
“Davis came in and did a great job,” said Dunn. “It is two great teams stepping up. It is going to be a battle. A straight battle.”
The Darts upset Pleasant Grove, the tournament’s top overall seed, 1-0, in earlier semifinals action.
Davis midfielder Reagan Neuenswander netted the game’s only goal, closing what was a chaotic sequence in the final moments of the first half.
Neuenswander hit the right post with an initial offering at goal. Teammate Halle Lund then headed ball off the crossbar on her own scoring try, after which Neuenswander found the back of the net with a header of her own.
“Oh my,” Neuenswander said, reflecting on the score. “It got crossed in, I volleyed it and it first hit the pole and I was like ‘oh no!’ Then I had to jump up and head it in. We worked really hard for that and we really earned that goal.”
- Watch replay: Davis 1, Pleasant Grove 0
The Darts played their best half of soccer this season before the breakthrough goal, according to head coach Souli Phongsavath.
“That was probably the most complete half we have played,” he said. “I’m glad we got the goal at the end, ’cause we were playing really, really well.”
The Darts’ strong performance was made all the more impressive as starting forward Annie Haycock missed the game with the flu virus.
Her absence necessitated the Darts adjusting their game plan a mere 20 minutes prior to kickoff.
“She was at our practice yesterday and I didn’t find out she wasn’t going to be here until we got on the bus,” Neuenswander said. “We didn’t know until we got here. It was different, but we knew we needed to put everything we had out there.”
Finding a way to win was more of the same for the Darts, who have steadily grown more and more capable in close contests as the season has progressed.
“I remember last year and even earlier this year, this team would lose overtime games or not finish the job,” Phongsavath said. “We’ve started to do those little things to grind to get where we are, to play in and win some really close games. I think it is growth and it is heart. I am just happy for them and I think we are peaking at the right time.”