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SANDY — Leo Urrutia was headed up to the penalty spot of the Class 5A boys soccer state championship match Thursday.
Whether he looked nervous or not, he felt the nerves of a 4-3 advantage. His goalkeeper, Sam Hunter, came off his line after making his first save of the shootout and pulled him aside.
“He knew I was nervous," Urruita said. "He saw me walking there, and I was nervous. I think I couldn’t breathe. But he had the confidence that I could put it in the back of the net, and it happened.”
OK, so Urrutia was nervous. But his team didn’t doubt him.
Urrutia buried the decisive penalty, and Hunter made the decisive shootout save, as the Lancers won their first state soccer title since 2003 with a 5-3 penalty-kick decision over Herriman in the Utah High School Activities Association state championship at Rio Tinto Stadium.
“There’s been a lot of tradition at Layton High,” said Layton coach Rick Talamantez, who also coached the Lancers’ 2003 title team. “We’ve got great soccer players in the program, and we’re very consistent with our coaching staff for 20-plus years. Consistency is the key.”
Hunter led Layton’s defense to its 10th shutout of the season, but the senior goalkeeper did most of his damage in the extra session and shootout.
“The past four years, we’re always underdogs,” Hunter said. “But we’ve been to the state semifinals twice; we’re a great team. To get to the finals and win it is unbelievable.”
Both teams slotted home three straight penalty kicks to open the shootout. Herriman’s Dallas May, Carter Johnson and goalkeeper JD Myers each converted from the spot, as Layton counterparts Easton Embley, Blaine Chambers and Hunter did the same.
That’s right; both goalkeepers converted a penalty in the third round of the shootout.
“He’s one of the best penalty takers we have; we trust him,” Talamantez said of Hunter. “Every day (the goalkeepers) practice them, and he knows how to handle pressure. Having pressure as a goalkeeper in trying to save PKs is enough. But he’s very composed, and I thought he deserved a shot.”
Hunter was the first to make a move. The senior switched up his routine and dived to his left, putting a hand on a shot to give the Lancers a 4-3 advantage going into the decisive round after Kaden Amano drilled his own conversion.
When the goalkeeper saw Urrutia coming up, Hunter began celebrating. The Lancers could clinch the program’s second state championship with one shot.
“He’s our most clutch PK taker,” Hunter said of Urrutia. “I know where he is going, and I can never stop him in practice. He always goes to my right, and he always finishes it perfectly on me. He’s just a great PK taker, and I just told him to be himself; just place it and put it away.”
Hunter made two second-half saves to preserve a scoreless regulation for both teams. Herriman was firing in the second stanza with seven shots.
Layton put one away 62 seconds into the second extra time. But as the Lancers erupted and began celebrating with their student section after tapping in a goal on the rebound, the linesman raised his flag: offside.
The @uhsaainfo 5A soccer title will be decided on penalty kicks. https://t.co/bg1GodnJAM
— Sean Walker (@DSeanKSL) May 26, 2017
The Lancers were used to tight matches. After 4-1 and 3-1 wins over American Fork and Brighton, respectively, to open the playoffs, Layton squeezed past Copper Hills 1-0 when Kaden Amado found the back of the net in the final minute of the first extra-time period.
Herriman, meanwhile, rolled into its first state title match with a 3-0 win over Bingham and a 2-1 victory against last year’s champion Viewmont. An 8-2 win over Jordan in the playoff opener set the tone for a Mustang attack that was firing on all cylinders.
But Herriman hit a wall in the title match — and that wall was Hunter and the Lancer defense, which registered its 10th shutout of the season.
“We have been practicing all year, and when we put it in the back of the net, we were champions,” Urrutia said. “It’s like a World Cup to me; it’s definitely amazing."
