From the jump: Early goal proves pivotal in Lone Peak’s 3-0 semifinal win over American Fork
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- Lone Peak’s Makayla Zukeran sends in the ball during her team’s 3-0 semifinal win over American Fork. October 19, 2026
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- Lone Peak players celebrate following Nya Piercy’s midway through the first half during her team’s 3-0 win over American Fork on Monday. October 19, 2026
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- Lone Peak’s Sadie Stratton tracks down the ball during her team’s 3-0 semifinal win over American Fork. October 19, 2026
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- Lone Peak players celebrate Kami McMurtrey’s second half goal during their semifinal win over American Fork. October 19, 2026
Scoring a goal with less than a minute after the opening kickoff can prove immensely beneficial for any team, and it certainly did for Lone Peak during its 3-0 win over American Fork in state semifinal action on Monday.
Before many fans had even settled into their seats, Lone Peak’s Sami Schiffman sent in a cross to Macie Leavitt, who then buried the ball into the back of the net for stunning 1-0 lead just seconds after the game’s opening kickoff. The Knights then parlayed that momentum into another goal scored in the first half, and then another in the second while forging several more prime goal-scoring opportunities to roll into the state championship match.
So how impactful did the opening goal prove in determining the course of the match?
“It changes everything. I think it gives everyone a chance to take a breath, you know?,” answered Lone Peak coach Shantel Jolley. “It relaxes just a little bit and get(s) the nerves out after that first one, and feel a little more comfortable to kind of settle the ball and and play our game.”
“It was really big to get that, and it really just diminishes the other team and their confidence,” added Lone Peak senior captain Sadie Stratton. “We came in with high confidence, and then getting a goal early on, it just kind of wiped away their hope for winning. It just feels so good, and so great to get that early.”
Stratton was at the forefront of a lot of Lone Peak’s action, but had a lot of help throughout in controlling the course of play while incurring few challenges from the Cavemen.
The second goal was headed in by Nya Piercy off of a corner kick sent in by Katherine Mason to give Lone Peak a commanding 2-0 lead at the half.
Despite what felt like a comfortable margin, Lone Peak went into the break knowing full well that the final outcome was far from being decided.
“I mean, we came back 2-0 in the first round, so it’s not impossible,” Jolley said of her team’s shootout win over Skyridge in the first round. “I just firmly said to stay hungry and don’t be content just because it’s 2-0. There’s 40 minutes left in second half, which is a long time still. So it’s just keeping at them to continue to do the things that we did well in the first half — to just stay hungry.”
Lone Peak players headed Jolley’s direction quite apparently and didn’t let up at all during the game’s final 40 minutes, and scored a goal midway through courtesy of Kami McMurtrey, who managed herself ahead of American Fork’s defense to put her team up 3-0, which proved to be the final.
“They executed what we’ve been working on for probably the last week and prep for American Fork in particular,” Jolley said. “So, it’s good for them to actually take what we did in practice and execute it and then score some goals.”
Lone Peak has been executing most everything well since taking it on the chin early in the season en route to a rather shocking 1-3 early record, which is all but unheard of for any Knight soccer team. But the team adjusted and finished out to reel off what is now 16 straight wins after Monday’s win over the Cavemen.
“I think those losses at the beginning were honestly really good for us because it it kept us humble and and we switched our formation,” Stratton said. “We have grown so much as a team and I think we’re really hoping to win it all this year. I absolutely love this team so much. We’ve accomplished so much, we’ve grown so much and I just I can’t wait to see what we can do on Friday.”
