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Cedar Valley players celebrate after the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley players celebrate with junior Aubrey King (right) after she scored a goal during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley senior Bailey McArthur (2) pursues Olympus sophomore HopeAnne Munson during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley players celebrate after the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley senior Bailey McArthur takes a free kick during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley players celebrate with junior Aubrey King (center) after the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley senior Bailey McArthur heads the ball during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley senior Rylie Beck traps the ball during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley freshman Brynnlee Bassett kicks the ball during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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A Cedar Valley player blocks the ball during the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Cedar Valley head coach Mitchell Hart (center) talks to his team after the 6A quarterfinal match against Olympus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

Cedar Valley junior Aubrey King hasn’t seen a lot of minutes on the varsity team during the 2022 season as she has gotten most of her playing time on the junior varsity squad.

But Aviator head coach Mitchell Hart chose to put King on the field for his No. 5-seeded Cedar Valley team in Thursday’s 5A quarterfinal game at No. 4-seed Olympus.

“We told her to go run and she did it,” Hart said.

King was relentless, racing after every ball and putting pressure on the Titan defense.

“I didn’t know how much I was going to play but luckily he put me in,” King said. “The coaches wanted us to force them to go down the middle of the field, and I was doing really good at forcing them inside and then getting back. He saw I was doing what he asked me to do, so he wanted to keep me in there.”

Fortunately for the Aviators, King was on the field with just over a minute left in regulation in a 0-0 tie — and found herself in the right place at the right time to provide the biggest play in Cedar Valley’s thrilling 1-0 win.

“I’m so excited,” King said. “We’re a new school but these girls work so hard. I’m really excited to be able to show what we can do.”

The monumental moment came when Aviator freshman Brynnlee Bassett was able to get to a bouncing ball and sent it soaring through the air toward the center of the Olympus penalty box.

The Titan keeper appeared to have it in her sights but she couldn’t haul it in, allowing it to drop right to where King was charging in. The Cedar Valley junior booted it past the desperately lunging Olympus defenders and into the back of the net for the only goal of the game.

“It was unreal,” King said. “I didn’t even know how much time was left. I just saw the ball and I was like, ‘please read this right, please tell me it’s not going to take a bounce before I get to it. I didn’t even think. I just did my job and put it in. It was all slow motion. All of a sudden there’s people crowding around me. It didn’t even feel real.”

Aviator senior Bailey McArthur said King deserved to be in that position because of the intensity with which she plays the game.

“Aubrey has so much energy on the ball,” McArthur said. “That’s what we needed up top. We needed energy going forward and we needed to press their backline. Putting her in was the right decision. We’re able to press them and we were able to get a goal in the last minute.”

McArthur had a huge grin on her face as she described seeing her team take the lead.

“It’s probably one of the best feelings ever,” McArthur said. “It is indescribable. That feeling is why we keep playing soccer. It is why we love it so much.”

The Aviator players and spectators went crazy as King was able to notch the first goal, but Hart knew there was still the little matter of 1:03 left on the clock.

“I’ve seen many games where something happens,” Hart said. “I couldn’t watch. I was hoping the ball would go out of bounds, just keep the clock moving. I was so glad when it finally ticked down.”

While King provided the dramatic goal, it likely wouldn’t have gotten to that point if not for the Cedar Valley defense and junior keeper Emma Beavin.

Beavin had to make some great saves as the Titan offense got a number of opportunities, but arguably the MVP of the game for the Aviators was McArthur.

That’s because she had the unenviable task of trying to limit Olympus star sophomore HopeAnn Munson.

“She is an exceptional player,” Hart said. “We gave the job to Bailey to just watch her and wherever she moved, we moved Bailey as well. She shut her down. A lot of their game revolves around her, so if we could close her down we could stay in it.”

McArthur lauded Munson’s performance, saying it was a huge challenge to attempt to keep her from getting going.

“She is so talented on the ball, off the ball, with her movement,” McArthur said. “My coach said I was in charge of marking her but she did amazing. It was a tough task.”

Both teams had some close calls in the first 79 minutes of the game, with Olympus having a shot go off the crossbar and another spin just wide while Cedar Valley had a shot off a corner kick that had to be cleared off the line by a defender.

That set the stage for King’s big finish, the shot that sent the Aviators to the state semifinals for the first time in school history.

“It’s amazing,” Hart said. “We are a young team with only five seniors this year. If you look at the seniors, you’ll see that they’re in tears because they know their hard work has helped us this year. This is massive for us. We’ve gotten to the quarterfinals before but we’ve always stumbled on that hurdle. Now going to the semifinals will be a new experience.”

It’s one McArthur is thrilled to be able to have in her final year at Cedar Valley.

“We’ve never done it before, so it’s an unknown,” the Aviator senior said. “We have nothing to lose. I’m so excited for the semifinals. We’re ready.”

Cedar Valley will face No. 8-seeded Bountiful in the semifinals, since the Braves defeated Lehi, 2-0, in Bountiful.

In the other 5A quarterfinal matches, No. 6-seed Timpanogos beat No. 3-seeded East 4-2 in a penalty kick shootout after the game ended in a scoreless tie, while No. 10- seed Skyline won 4-1 at No. 2-seed Stansbury.

The 5A semifinal matches will be played at Juan Diego on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Cedar Valley will play Bountiful at 10 a.m., while Timpanogos will face Skyline at 12:30 p.m.