(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Timpview's Kelsey Salvesen (33) heads the ball out during the 5A semifinal girl's soccer match against Timpanogos at Juan Diego High School in Draper Tuesday October 17, 2017.
Draper • Rivals Timpanogos and Timpview traded empty scoring opportunities and corner kicks, errant passes and hold-your-breath saves for 100 minutes of regulation and overtime Tuesday night.
The result was a little more one-sided when it got to penalty kicks.
Timpanogos goalkeeper Mia Barlow saved her first two chances then celebrated after Timpview’s fourth kick sailed over the crossbar to send the Timberwolves to the Class 5A girls’ soccer state championship game, 3-1 in PKs.
The result sets up an all-Region 8 showdown with Maple Mountain, which also needed PKs earlier Tuesday to dispose of East.
“Going to state finals was always our goal throughout the whole entire season,” the senior Barlow said. “It’s nice seeing that goal accomplished.
“We’re going to state finals. It’s surreal because that’s what we’ve been dreaming about.”
TIMPANOGOS 0, TIMPVIEW 0 (TIMPANOGOS WINS 3-1 on PKs) <br>• Timpanogos goalkeeper Mia Barlow makes saves against the first two PKs to help send the Timberwolves to the state finals for the second time in three years. <br>• The Timberwolves avenge a 3-2 loss to Timpview back on Aug. 18. <br>• Timpanogos, the defending Class 4A champion, joins East, last year’s 4A runner-up, on the short end of PK results in Tuesday’s semifinals.
The Timberwolves (13-2-2) are back at Rio Tinto for the second time in three years; they lost the 2015 final to Skyline.
But if they play the way they did Tuesday — a formidable defensive back line that turned away several Timpview (14-3-1) chances — perhaps a different outcome awaits.
Timpanogos went 1-0-1 against Maple Mountain in the regular season, and there surely won’t be any surprises when they meet again Friday at Rio Tinto Stadium.
“We were duking it out during region play,” Timpanogos coach Megan Fereday said. “We beat them once and tied them the other time. Both those games helped us prep for the tournament. They are obviously a great team.”
After a miss in the first round of PKs, Tess Donaldson and Samantha Brady scored with shots into the lower left corner of the net. Megan Unbedacht followed with a goal in the upper right corner then a miss by Timpview sealed the result.
“The thing that impresses me about this team is they’ve always been able to battle back, regardless of the circumstances,”Fereday said. “They just have heart and they just keep going and going.