4A high school soccer: Springville wins a classic

SPRINGVILLE — If you ever wanted to know what a girls soccer playoff game should look like, just go and find the tape of Springville's opening-round collision with Mountain Crest on Tuesday.

It pretty much had everything.

Before a large crowd of folks gathered around Springville's soccer field, Springville and Mountain Crest duked it out in a 4A first-round playoff encounter that had all sorts of drama, lots and lots of twists and turns, plenty of physical play, oodles of intensity and all the passion you'd hope to see in a match where the winner advances and the loser is out.

Over what proved to be 92 minutes Mountain Crest threw everything it had at Springville but the Red Devils had the guts and courage to fight back and survive.

Springville star striker Lexi Eaton equalized from the penalty spot with six minutes to go in regulation and she calmly slotted home the golden goal in the 92nd minute to propel the Red Devils to a thrilling 4-3 win in double overtime.

"They just battled," Springville coach Ryan Swanson said of his players. "They just kept battling the whole game ... Win or lose, you just gotta lay it all on the line, and I think that's we did tonight and that's what (Mountain Crest) did tonight. They should be proud of themselves, as well."

In the end, only one team could advance beyond the first round and that team is Springville as the Red Devils will host Woods Cross in the 4A quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Ultimately, Eaton's calm and collected finish in the 92nd minute on Tuesday sent them there.

With both teams dealing with fatigue at the start of the second overtime, Springville managed to string together a few passes. The ball found its way to Jennifer Mason near the top of the 18-yard box, and she played a phenomenal ball between two Mountain Crest defenders and into the path of Eaton, who only had the 'keeper to beat.

Eaton kept her composure, and she slotted the ball past Mountain Crest's 'keeper and in.

"She played a perfect ball to me and I was just in the right spot at the right time," said Eaton. "And I just hit it into the corner."

Eaton's golden goal capped a wild, seesaw affair.