High school girls soccer: Lone Peak heads to third straight 6A championship, Syracuse’s keeper keeps potential title run alive

Here’s a recap of the 6A semifinal games held on Tuesday at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. Lone Peak and Syracuse move on to the 6A championship game at American First Field on Friday.

Lone Peak 4, Mountain Ridge 0

Region 2 champion Mountain Ridge was on a tear in the past two months. It won 13 conesuctive games, including a 2-1 win over American Fork to earn a spot in the 6A semifnials.

It’s prize? A brutal 4-0 loss in the semifinals to Lone Peak.

The Knights have been the premiere girls soccer program in the state, and after Tuesday’s win it’s easy to see why. It played a hot Mountain Ridge team which has proven it can beat anyone in the state, yet Lone Peak still cruised to a convincing win.

Even with the dominant win, a little luck broke the Knights’ way in the first half. Mountain Ridge had two strong opprotunities to break the game open and take the lead from Lone Peak.

The first opprotunity was a breakaway, which bounced off the far crossbar. The second was a great cross in, but the shot was just wide.

“We didn’t want to talk too much (during halftime) of what could have happened had they gone in,” said Lone Peak head coach Shantel Jolley. “We’ve had the same scares in past semifinals that we’ve gotten away with. I think it’s just (that) they got the nerves out. We just settled down. You make a mistake, you just move on.”

Quickly after, BYU signee Kate Fuller punished Mountain Ridge for its mistakes and gave Lone Peak a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute.

“Obviously, we have to stay composed when that happens because a lot of things are going to happen in the game and it’s just about how we react to it,” Fuller said. “After I saw them miss those two chances, I knew we had to go hit them hard because they were down.”

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When halftime rolled around, Mountain Ridge still trailed 1-0. Though the consolation was that it generated some really strong opprotunities and it was far from out of the semifinal.

That all changed just seven minutes into the second half.

Lone Peak poured an avalanche of goals on Mountain Ridge in the final 40 minutes. First, Sadie Stratton had a great pass in the box to Ivy Harding for the 2-0 lead in the 47th minute.

Stratton dished out a second assist, this time to Sami Schiffman for the Knights’ third goal. Finally, Fuller finished the semifinal with another goal off a pass off a free kick from Nya Piercy.

“At the beginning, it was tight and there’s obviously a lot of stress going into these games,” Fuller said. “I think our team handled it well and channeled it into energy and finished our chances when we needed to.”

Lone Peak’s offense may have been ruthless all year, but it’s defense has been equally as brutal. Tuesday’s 4-0 win was the 14th shutout of the year for the Knights.

Star keeper and TCU commit Eliza Collings added to her pile of career shutouts. She earned the state career shutout record last year as a junior.

“It starts from the back with Eliza,” Jolley said. “Having had her back there for four years is very unusual and it’s been very special to have her there. The ones in front of her, they’re just solid and they do their job.”

Syracuse 2, Davis 1

The entire dynamic of Tuesday’s semifinal between Region 1 foes Syracuse and Davis completely flipped in the final 15 minutes.

After an early goal from Syracuse’s Indy Heap gave it the lead, it was the Titans’ game to lose. But, it weathered heavy pressure late and held on for the 2-1 semifinal victory over Davis.

Heap’s initial goal was just a case of her being in the right place at the right time as she scored after a shot by teamate Talia Thompson richocheted off Davis’ keeper in the 18th minute.

Throughout the first and most of the second half it was difficult for the Darts to build any sort of momentum. To make matters worse, 6A’s leading scorer Taylee Hughes gave the Titans a 2-0 lead after a bizare free kick which bounced off the top crossbar, into the back of Davis’ keeper, and went into the goal.

“I just wanted her to hit it on frame so the keeper has to make a save, and she literally hit it on frame. I didn’t mean that,” joked Syracuse head coach Jason Steiner. “We’ve been working on trying to get the free kicks and one finally paid off. We had a little help from their keeper, unfortunate for them, but I’ll take any luck we can get.”

Generally, Syracuse’s defense held firm and the chances that Davis got were not the strongest. And after it took a two-goal lead, it seemed like all the Titans had to do was wait out the timer for thier victory.

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But everything changed once Davis broke through in the 63rd minute on a goal from Kate Willard. After Willards’ goal, the Darts played with all sorts of confidence.

On-frame shots kept pouring in from Davis in the final minutes and really put the pressure on the Titans’ defense.

After giving up the first goal, Syracuse keeper Erin Bott went on a tear to keep its lead alive.

“After their first goal went in, I saw how much time was left,” Bott said. “I just knew that we’d be okay lf our defense stayed locked in. Our defense, I trusted them and I had to do my part.”

When the final countdown reached zero and Syracuse awarded the win, the Titans’ sideline rushed Bott and the student section cheered her on.

“We’ve been working on her all season with certain things and it showed today, but she’s made huge saves all season,” Steiner said. “I was a little worried about the sun (in her eyes) and she dealt with it fine. She was huge.”

It was an especially sweet victory for Syracuse after it missed out on the championship game last year after it lost to Lone Peak in the semifinals.

Now the Titans have the chance to avenge that loss Friday as it faces the Knights at American First Field.