Thunderbirds shut out East to claim first 4A girls soccer title in school history


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SANDY — Timpview’s girls soccer program had never won a state title.

The Thunderbirds didn’t win the Region 7 title; that honor went to Alta, while Timpview finished second with three league losses.

But once the playoffs started, the young Thunderbirds looked like veterans, knocking off two region champions, the defending state champs, and winning their first state title.

Lily Haskins and Alyssa Spackman each scored a second-half goal to help the Thunderbirds shut out East 2-0 and claim their first Class 4A girls soccer state championship in program history Friday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“I’m just a freshman, this is my first year, and it’s so awesome,” Haskins said. “This is it. This is big.”

The Thunderbirds (16-4-1) entered the playoffs with a No. 2 seed, but the postseason turned out to be anything but conventional. Three of the four region champions in 4A lost in the first two rounds, and Timpview knocked off the other in the semifinals — a 5-0 win over reigning state champion Skyline.

After defeating the Eagles and Region 5 champion Bonneville, the Thunderbirds knew they belonged in the state final.

“I think mentally it made us stronger,” Spackman said. “We were more ready for this game. We knew how good we were coming in, and we showed it on the field.”

After a scoreless first half, Haskins opened the scoring in the 45th minute when the freshman jumped onto the end of a through-ball from Dakota Smith and sped past two defenders to slot home a goal past the keeper.

Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

But East (13-5-2) refused to go away, and the Thunderbirds were put on their heels.

“They were just coming at us; no one has played us harder this entire year,” Timpview coach Eric Brady said of East. “Not only did they play hard, but they played smart. We were chasing them the whole game, and usually it’s the opposite. Other than the first 10 minutes of the second half, we were chasing them.

“They deserved to be here. They were the best team we played, and we’ve played really good teams.”

Then Spackman tapped home a rebound with 10 minutes to play to double the advantage, and the instant pressure relief was visible in the composure of a young team that played five freshmen and five sophomores.

“A 1-0 game is really scary,” she said. “They can at any time get a fluke goal, and it gets scary. When it was 2-0, it really sealed the deal for us.”

Timpview notches its name into the UHSAA record book as a first-time champion, the second-straight first-time 4A champion (Skyline also won a state title in Class 5A in 2001).

“These girls will have a memory later in life to dig deep and say, ‘I can do hard things. I can do great things,’” Brady said. “That’s what it means to me: that it means much more to them.”

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