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DRAPER — The Davis Darts defense was a puzzle Skyridge simply couldn’t solve.

Davis finished with a 3-0 victory in the Class 5A semifinals at Juan Diego High School on Tuesday, squeezing the life out of the Falcons with a pressing defense that limited forays into the scoring third.

“We couldn’t figure out how to get past their press,” Skyridge coach Toby Peterson said. “But I’m so proud of our girls. They fought hard all year long. We figured out where our weaknesses were and made some corrections. We made a good run. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as far as we wanted to go, but it was a good run.”

No. 7 seed Davis (13-5-0) advances to its fifth state title match in the past eight seasons and will play No. 5 seed Farmington in an all-Davis County final on Friday at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

The Darts had allowed only 14 goals all season and withstood a final furious 12 minutes as Skyridge, a surprise semifinalist as the No. 11 seed, desperately tried to find a way to get on the scoreboard.

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“We shifted our formation a little bit so we had numbers down there which helped out a lot,” Peterson said. “We made a mistake on defense down there at the end and they got that last one, but for the most part it gave us opportunities and that’s what we wanted.

“There was a lot of determination in this group. They didn’t want to give up just yet. That’s what makes me the most proud is the grit and determination of this team. They could have quit a long time ago but they didn’t. They just kept fighting.”

Davis scored in the game’s fourth minute when Emery Jacobs outraced a pair of Skyridge defenders to the ball and pushed a shot past Falcons goalkeeper Allie Noorda for a quick 1-0 lead.

In the 27th minute, Jacobs was fouled inside the scoring area and was awarded a penalty kick. She smashed her second goal into the back of the net and the Darts took a commanding 2-0 lead.

In the second half, Emma Hughes had a good chance for Skyridge in front of the goal at the 12-minute mark as the Falcons finally found a way to penetrate the offensive third, but was turned away. The Falcons kept up the pressure and dominated possession, but Davis was up to the challenge and kept Skyridge scoreless.

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Olivia Flint got behind the defense on a counter in the game’s final 20 seconds for the Darts final score.

“I think it was just the anxiety, the excitement of it all,” Peterson said. “It also didn’t help that we couldn’t seem to get the ball settled long enough to get a decent shot. That’s what we’ve been working on all week is keeping the ball on the deck and we just couldn’t keep it down. I think the nerves got to us a little bit.”

Skyridge advanced to its first state final last season before falling to Riverton. The Falcons graduated ten seniors and worked hard all season to find the chemistry they needed to be successful. Skyridge (10-10-0) won its final two Region 4 matches, then topped Taylorsville (9-1), Pleasant Grove (1-0) and Fremont (2-1) to reach the semifinals.

“It was just believing in our style,” Peterson said. “Last year, we had a group of girls that had played together for years and years. This group, they come from all sorts of different clubs and there was no chemistry there. So we had to build that from the ground up. Once they started believing in our style of play and started playing that style, that’s really when things started to connect for us.

“I just told them how proud I was of the seniors. I was proud of them for fighting hard for the seniors and reminded them that we’ve got some more work to do. We’ll be back next year.”

Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald