(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Maple Mountain players leap in celebration as they defeat East in a shootout during 5A semifinal girl's soccer match at Juan Diego High School in Draper Tuesday October 17, 2017.
Draper • Never has a performance more personified the concept of “grind it out” than that of Maple Mountain on Tuesday evening in the Class 5A girls’ soccer state semifinals.
Short-handed and taken out of their game in the second half and overtime, the Golden Eagles turned away everything East threw at them, and goalkeeper Kayla Thompson stopped three shots in the penalty-kick round to advance to the school’s first state title game, 4-3 on PKs.
“It was so crazy, that was such an exciting moment,” Thompson said about her diving stop on Ilona Wall’s kick in the seventh round of penalty kicks. “It was just like, ‘Holy cow, we just won this game.’
“I just read it and I’m like, ’OK, I’m going to get this ball and I’m going to save it and we’re going to win.”
Maple Mountain (11-2-3) advanced to meet Timpanogos in Friday’s final at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Freshman Anna Lewis scored the eventual game-winner when she beat East goalkeeper Katie Liljenquist to start the seventh round. Liljenquist made one save in the first five rounds.
East (12-5-1), last year’s runner-up in Class 4A, had scored four goals in each of its first two playoff victories and pressured Maple Mountain throughout most of the second half and overtime.
Thompson, a senior who has committed to Gonzaga, saved the game in the 89th minute with a diving deflection on a low shot by Emily Jensen, one of East’s top scorers.
“She is full of confidence,” Maple Mountain coach Jeff Lewis said. “She believes in herself. She works all year — 2 to 3 extra trainings a week. That extra training you see pay off on days like today. The player of the match for me.”
MAPLE MOUNTAIN 0, EAST 0 (MAPLE MOUNTAIN WINS 4-3 on PKs) <br>• Kayla Thompson makes three PK saves and Anna Lewis scores the eventual winning PK after the teams go scoreless in 100 minutes of regulation and overtime. <br>East entered Tuesday with 59 goals scored, second in Class 5A. <br>• The teams combined for seven goals in their prior meeting this season —a 4-3 Golden Eagles victory Aug. 15.
Maple Mountain lost starting center back Gracie Knutzen last week to a torn ACL. But the Golden Eagles have rallied around their fallen teammate, who was on the bench and helped them celebrate the historic moment.
“We played for her today,” Thompson. “It was good to have her here on the field with us.”