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Lone Peak's Kate Fuller applied constant pressure throughout Friday's 6A championship match versus Syracuse. 10/24/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Ivy Harding sends in a shot during the 6A championship match on Friday 10/24/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Ivy Harding played a big role for the Knights throughout the 2025 season. 10/25/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Sadie Stratton battles for control of the ball during her team's 2-0 loss to Syracuse on Friday. 10/24/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Lone Peak defender Bailee Zentner was key to the Knight's standout defense throughout the 2025 season. 10/24/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Lone Peak forward Sadie Stratton gets ahead of the defense during the 6A championship match. 10/24/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Sasha Castro was one of the team's top freshmen during the 2025 season. 10/24/2025

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Soccer can be a cruel sport, and that fact was on clear display during Lone Peak’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Syracuse during the 6A state championship match on Friday.

Despite controlling possession for most of the game, while putting furious pressure on the Titans’ goal throughout, the Knights came out on the losing end at America First Field. The loss was just the second one for a Lone Peak team this season in its attempt to win a third-straight championship.

“All the credit goes to Syracuse. They played a solid game,” said Lone Peak Coach Shantel Jolley. “We weren’t quite ourselves in the final third. We weren’t as composed and didn’t have the quality we normally have, and unfortunately we weren’t able to respond and get the ball in the back of the net today.”

The game was scoreless until the 60th minute when the Titans mounted an effective counter attack to beat Lone Peak’s otherwise stellar defense for a 1-0 lead that stunned the Lone Peak faithful gathered at America First Field. The Knights looked primed to respond, and put forth a ton of pressure on Syracuse’s goal throughout the game’s final 20 minutes, but just came up short while Syracuse managed to extend its lead to 2-0 in the final minutes.

Applying most of the pressure were standout seniors, such as midfielders Ivy Harding and Hannah Heimuli, along with leading scorer Kate Fuller. Lone Peak did manage to break through in the game’s 50th minute, but was flagged for being offsides, preventing a score from Heimuli.

Chief among the senior effort on Friday was the play of goalkeeper Eliza Collings, who made several standout saves, and particularly during the game’s first 10 minutes which saw Syracuse put on a lot of pressure. The two goals that Syracuse did manage were attempts that perhaps no goalkeeper could have defended effectively.

“Eliza is going to be extremely hard to replace,” Jolley said. “Sure, she’s incredible in goal, but she’s also such a great person and the girls really love her. She’s been a great leader and it’s really difficult, for me, to imagine her leaving. I’m sort of in denial that this will be her last game for us, considering everything she’s meant to this team over the last four years.”

Jolley also had high praise for the rest of her seniors, each of whom contributed heavily to the team’s success, not only this season, but throughout their careers.

“We had a relatively young team this year, so we needed our seniors to really take a leadership role, and all of them did,” Jolley said. “We had some big holes to fill after last year, but my seniors didn’t think anything of it. They were determined to get back here again, and all of them will be greatly missed.”

A lot of tears were shed after the game, as can well be imagined, although Jolley’s players remained relatively well composed despite the massive disappointment that always accompanies a loss in a championship match. After receiving their second-place trophy, Jolley and Lone Peak’s other coaches addressed the players, hoping to convey a positive message despite what had just happened.

“I just encouraged each of them to hold their heads high, and even though it wasn’t the result we wanted, there’s no reason for any of them not to hold their heads high and to be proud of themselves for getting here,” Jolley said. “It’s hard to get here, and the fact that we’ve done it for three years in a row now is a big deal. Sure, we wanted to go three for three, but two for three is what we’ll take and we can be proud of that.”