High school girls soccer: Lone Peak’s defense stymies Davis in 6A championship shutout

There are two things Lone Peak had never done this season entering Friday’s 6A state championship match against Davis: It had never trailed, and it had never scored fewer than two goals in a game.

Both of those were in jeopardy Friday, but Lone Peak’s dominant defense showed out as the Knights edged out Davis 2-0 for a perfect 20-0 record and a second straight state championship.

Lone Peak has a reputation for being an offensive powerhouse, but head coach Shantel Jolley said the defense was the secret to the success this season.

“Our defense does not get enough credit and appreciation,” said Jolley. “We’re obviously a team that scored 100+ goals and (what) we’re known for is this firepower offensive attacking team, but for our back line to just kind of be the silent warriors, we won this game because of that, essentially.”

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Lone Peak’s defense is anchored by keeper Eliza Collings, as Friday’s shutout in the championship game was her 15th of the season and 41st of her career, a state record (the previous record of 38 had stood since 2001 before Collings broke it earlier this month.

The most impressive part? Collings is only a junior.

“I think the record speaks for herself,” said Jolley. “She’s special. The fact that we have another year with her is just unbelievable. She’s awesome because she doesn’t ever take the credit for herself. When she got the shutout record she wanted to make sure that her back line was also acknowledged.”

While the Knight defense stayed strong throughout Friday’s title game, the offense struggled to find separation against the Davis defense. It didn’t help that 2023 Ms. Soccer Bella Devey had to miss the championship match due to being called up to the U-19 Women’s Youth National Team.

But Lone Peak finally broke through as Kate Fuller sent a nice through ball forward to Brooke Hendricks, who finished it off in the 46th minute for the 1-0 lead.

“It’s an exciting moment, especially for the state championship,” said Hendricks. “It’s definitely something that not many people get to go through, so I’m glad I could put it in there.”

With how defensively heavy the game went, the 1-0 lead felt nearly insurmountable and the Lone Peak defense wasn’t keen on giving Davis many chances.

However, one chance came late in the second half as the ball was crossed into the box close to Collings, but Collings made the save and the defense managed to clear it to keep the lead and the shutout alive.

“Our defense is amazing,” said Collings. “I think they’re the best defense in the whole country. Some of the shutouts were just mainly because of them. I’m just speechless. Our defense is so good. I have so much trust in them and they were just the best.”

From there, Lone Peak never gave Davis a real chance to get an equalizer and the game was sealed when the Knights were awarded a free kick with less than 10 seconds left.

Kate Fuller took the free kick and scored with literally one second left in the game to keep Lone Peak’s two or more goals streak alive.

After putting in the last goal and walking off the field with another state championship, Jolley said the win — and this season — were confirmation of the mental toughness of the Knights.

“Something I think that goes unappreciated with great teams is their mental toughness, and that’s something we work on,” Jolley said. “These girls are physically capable, talented and skilled, so for us it’s really just making sure their mental game is as good as their athletic game and technical ability.”