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Off the line: Villarreal’s save sparks Lone Peak girls soccer to win over Syracuse in 6A semis

By Jared Lloyd - | Oct 22, 2024
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Lone Peak sophomore Ada Villarreal (left) disentangles herself from the net after clearing a shot off the line during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak players celebrate with junior Ivy Harding (center) after she scored a goal during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak junior Kate Fuller heads the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak freshman Macie Leavitt (right) battles for the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak players run onto the field to celebrate after the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Brooke Hendricks celebrates after scoring a goal during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak junior Kate Fuller (center) kicks the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Samantha Sellers kicks the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak players pose for a photo after the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Bella Devey (right) heads the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Brooke Hendricks (13) scores a goal during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak junior Ivy Harding dribbles up the field during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak and Syracuse players battle for the ball during the 6A semifinal game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak junior keeper Eliza Collings kicks the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Islay Smith brings the ball down during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Samantha Sellers shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak junior Hannah Heimuli dribbles the ball up the field during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Bella Devey dribbles the ball up the field during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
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Lone Peak senior Islay Smith passes the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.

On a team of packed with superstars, Lone Peak sophomore defender Ada Villarreal hasn’t spent much time in the spotlight.

She and the rest of the Knight defense has been nearly invincible, only allowing seven goals in the entire 2024 season, while the Lone Peak offense has usually been the focus with 100 goals scored.

But halfway through the first half of Tuesday’s 6A semifinal game against Syracuse at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, the Knight defense suddenly found itself in an unusual position.

Neither team had scored to that point but Titan junior Taylee Hughes won the race to a deep ball in Lone Peak territory and chipped it up and over the charging Knight keeper to bounce toward the open net.

Would Lone Peak find itself trailing for the first time in the entire season?

Not if Villarreal could do something about it.

“I just remember seeing it go over and I just ran for my life,” Villarreal said. “I was like, I need to get this. Once I got it, I was obviously happy that we could maintain our shutout streak and kind of give us momentum to go forward.”

She couldn’t remember just how close the ball got to the goal line but she got to it and cleared it out, preventing the Titans from taking the lead.

“If that goal goes in, it’s a different game, a different story,” Knight head coach Shantel Jolley said. “That’d be a scenario that we haven’t seen this year, actually being down a goal. It would have been intriguing to see how we would have responded, but I’m glad we didn’t have to learn that lesson.”

Villarreal’s defensive effort resulted in an explosion of cheers from Lone Peak players on and off the field.

“It gave me energy and the bench got hyped,” Villarreal said. “It just lifted us all up. Once one person gets energy, it’s able to spread like wildfire. I think that really fired us up and gave us momentum to keep going.”

The Knights would tally a trio of goals, while Syracuse had two other opportunities (including a penalty kick) ricochet off the crossbar but stay out as Lone Peak secured the 3-0 win.

“It was a hard game but I think once we got the momentum everything kind of started falling into place and we just played for each other,” Villarreal said. “That’s our motto. We played for each other, and I think that’s where we found success.”

The Knights broke through right before halftime when junior Ivy Harding got the ball and chanced a shot from distance, slotting it beautifully into the corner.

Jolley said she trusts her players to know when to pull the trigger from deep and when to try to combine in the box.

“The girls do a great job,” Jolley said. “They’re really unselfish. Our philosophy is to try and find an easy shot inside the 18, whether getting around the corner or creating a through ball.

“But from that pressure and the ability we have that usually then opens up for the long shots later in the game, as the opponent is trying to defend our original tactics. And we’ve got got ballers who can hit from long range.”

Lone Peak doubled the lead in the 45th minute when junior ate Fuller drew the Syracuse defense, then dropped the ball off to where senior Brooke Hendricks was wide open.

Hendricks found the gap she needed and knocked the ball in to make it a 2-0 game.

Syracuse tried to rally, getting a shot that was just high enough to go off the bar in the 53rd minute, then earned a penalty kick but had it go off the bar and out as well.

But it was the Knights who would take on the final goal when senior Samantha Sellers put in another long shot in the final minutes.

With the win, Lone Peak (19-0) made it to the title game and gets a shot at repeating as 6A state champs.

“Obviously going back-to-back is always cool,” Jolley said. “It’s motivation. But I’ve learned through the years and we tell the girls that we’re not defending a title; we’re going after another one. We have a lot of returners that came back from last year, but we do have new faces and and we are still a new team. It’s basically this team winning one this year.”

Villarreal said she’s looking forward to the entire experience of being in the championship.

“I think just all the hard work that we put in, it’s finally worth it,” Villarreal said. “I think we can see how much we’ve improved through the season. And I think it’s gonna be a great final and I’m so excited.”

The Knights will take on Davis (who rolled past Mountain Ridge, 5-0, in the other semifinal) in the 6A title game, which will take place at America First Stadium in Sandy on Friday at 2 p.m.