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SANDY —In the 5A girls' soccer semifinals, defending champion Viewmont defeated Lone Peak 1-0.
Lone Peak had the upset of the tournament knocking off top-ranked Alta in the quarterfinals. The Knights were looking to continue their Cinderella run and great defense kept them in the game.
It wasn't until the 54th minute that Lone Peak's defense broke down.
Viewmont's Kaitlyn Palmer and Lone Peak keeper Cassidy Smith found themselves racing to the ball, both slid and collided into each other, but Palmer was able to squeeze the kick past Smith and into the goal for the only score of the game.
Those chances were squashed by the dynamic play of Viewmont keeper Haley Johnson who punctuated her shutout performance with a diving grab with five minutes left in the match.
"Our goalkeeper Haley had a fantastic game today and really stepped up for our team and did a great job," said Tate.
The opportunity to win it again is undescribable and such a blessing.
–Haley Johnson
"Keep the ball out of the net. That's my one thing, my one goal for my team and for myself," said Johnson.
This is the fourth straight year that Viewmont will be in the championship game.
"The opportunity to win it again is undescribable and such a blessing," said Johnson. "It's been since the beginning of the year to defend our state title. We knew we had a target on our back and we knew we needed to defend it. Our goal was to get to the championship four years in a row and we're the first team to do that, so that was our main goal."
