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SANDY — The Davis High girls soccer team entered the Class 5A postseason with a No. 6 national ranking and a chance to defend its state title.
What more did it need?
An undefeated season.
Mission accomplished.
Mikayla Colohan scored the only goal of the game early in the first half, and Kendyl Baker made three saves to preserve the shutout as the Darts finished an undefeated season with back-to-back state titles with the 1-0 win over Weber Friday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.
"It's like Christmas morning, honestly. Nothing compares," Colohan said through pure ecstasy after the Darts clinched a 20-0 season. "This is the best feeling in the world. I wanted it so bad for the seniors, and I'm just glad we accomplished it. I'm so happy to see them go out on top."
The BYU commit gave Davis the early lead with a thunderous blast from about 25 yards out just over 10 minutes into the match. Weber State-bound Regyn Youngberg spun and dished a backward pass to BYU commit Olivia Wade, who crossed the ball to Colohan for the goal from distance that put the Darts up 1-0 in the 11th minute.
Colohan picked up her head as she saw each Weber defender trail to defend Wade, then screamed for the ball, took the one-touch assist and buried it from the edge of the 18-yard box.
Baker made two of her three saves in the first half for the Darts, and the Davis center back pairing of Haylee Cacciacarne and Mia Stoddard did the rest to keep the Darts' 15th shutout of the year, including three in the postseason.
"These past three games where our offense wasn't clicking, and we missed chances that we made in the regular season, this was all about the defense keeping us in the game and preserving a lead for us," said Davis coach Souli Phongsavath after admitting he was rarely a fan of the "defense wins championships" cliche.
But the defense anchored by Baker, Cacciacarne and Stoddard made him a believer with a team that allowed just eight goals in 20 games played.
"No disrespect to my other teams, but this defense is definitely the best," said Phongsavath, who won his fourth state soccer championship with Davis and second with the girls team. "They didn't let in any soft goals. Every goal we've had scored on us was earned, 100 percent. They were great goals. It's difficult to play in games where we are up big and still not to let up and have any lapse of focus. They just kept it."
Baker said the confidence gained by the team heading into the playoffs was the biggest key to the defensive lockdown. Davis outscored its opponents 9-1 in the postseason, with the only goal coming in a 2-1 extra-time win against American Fork.
"Confidence is big. The defense wants to step up so much more so we can make the offense look good with their many goals," Baker said. "Our big goal is to keep the ball out of the net, and we were able to do that two times in a row with a close lead."
It's like Christmas morning, honestly. Nothing compares. This is the best feeling in the world. I wanted it so bad for the seniors, and I'm just glad we accomplished it. I'm so happy to see them go out on top.
–Davis midfielder Mikayla Colohan
Weber's Mylee Broad nearly equalized in the 64th minute when the Warriors earned a free kick from 16 yards out just wide of the box. But her chip from the flank sailed inches over the crossbar, getting caught in the top of the netting and preserving the Darts' shutout.
Other than that, the Warriors (15-3-2) relied on a steady diet of counterattacks that nearly toppled the Darts' leave. Weber finished the night with five shots, including three on goal, to trail Davis' nine total shots.
"We had plenty of chances to put the game away, and I thought if we got two we'd be pretty comfortable," Phongsavath said. "We controlled the game on their end, but they're a great team and so well-coached. We just couldn't put the game away, but we'll take this win."
Phongsavath stayed away from comparing this year's Davis team to any past iteration of Kaysville soccer players, simply calling the team "special" and mentioning the defense as the best he's coached.
The legacy of the 2015 Davis girls soccer team will be discussed in barbershops and Internet message boards across Northern Utah, but for one night, the Darts were on top of the world and basked in the glow of back-to-back titles.
"It's absolutely amazing," Baker said. "This has been a dream of ours, to play at Rio Tinto again and defender our state title. It's so amazing. No words can describe this feeling right now."
