Through the first three weeks of the girls soccer season, few teams had been as impressive defensively as Davis. In their first six games, the Darts scored a total of 27 goals while giving up only two.

But Davis experienced its first shock of the season as it gave up two second-half goals and lost 3-1 at American Fork on Tuesday. Darts head coach Dillon Richens knew the loss meant there were things to learn from, and Davis did just that on Thursday as it ended its nonregion schedule with a close 1-0 shutout victory over Corner Canyon.

“It was a good game for us,” Richens said. “We played well coming off the loss on Tuesday. We wanted to be able to control the game. It was just the simple things we struggled to do on Tuesday, so we really wanted to stress doing the simple things, doing the easy things.”

Corner Canyon never gave up a score in the run of play, but Davis took advantage of a free kick that was just outside of the box. Sophomore Reial Phongsavath stepped up and scored off the free kick in the 17th minute.

“She is a phenomenal player, probably one of the most technically gifted players I’ve seen on boys or girls side,” Richens said of Phongsavath.

“I totally trust her 100%. I want her to take this team and put it on her shoulders. She’s a leader on the ball and I’m wanting her to be more of a leader vocally and dominating games. She won that one for us.”

Despite the narrow final score, Davis dominated possession for about 60 minutes and had many chances to score, though the Chargers defense and goalkeeper Olivia Edwards managed to stop the Darts during their final push.

While Corner Canyon held the score close, its chances in its own final third did not come often, though the Chargers did start to slightly crack the Darts’ defense midway through the second half.

An equalizer almost came in the 67th minute on a Corner Canyon breakaway, but Davis keeper Kaitlyn Harris kept her fifth shutout of the season alive.

“I think we’re really good at working under pressure together,” Harris said. “We’re good at communicating and not losing our heads.

“Today we did a lot better possessing the ball and I feel like our attitude was just a lot better. We played together more as a team.”

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The Darts are on a mission to get back to the 6A throne after winning the state title in 2022. Last year they reached the championship game but fell 2-0 to Lone Peak.

But before any postseason play happens, Davis has to first go through its region. Richens is optimisitc about his team after seeing how it fights through adversity.

“Winning 1-0, it is an important way to win a game,” said Richens. “If you can win 1-0, then that gives you confidence when you only have a one goal lead, so honestly, losing a game, we learned a lot from that and having a one-goal victory is big for them.

“Hopefully that gives them the confidence that in the future, if it’s a one-goal game, they can hold on and get the win.”

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