SANDY — No matter what happened on the field during Morgan's 3A semifinal showdown with Judge on Friday on Sayers Field, the Trojans kept believing — in themselves, in each other and, above all else, in the fact that they would find a way to advance to today's championship game.

Ultimately, belief paid off for Morgan.

At the end of a wild, seesaw battle that eventually went to a shootout, back-up goalkeeper Chelsey Stegelmeier saved what would've been a decisive penalty kick for Judge, and Chelsea Fairbourn drilled home the game-winner to give Morgan a 4-3 shootout victory after the game had finished in a 2-2 draw.

Morgan was down 2-0 after the first two rounds of the shootout but somehow found a way to come back and eventually win.

"I think part of it was their preparation in practice," Morgan coach Tara Ferrin said of Morgan's response in the shootout. "We tried to put them in that situation because we knew it would come up, and we just told them, 'You know what? Believe in yourself.' "

That's what the Trojans collectively did, and today they'll meet Juan Diego for the 3A title at 1:30 p.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Having had a penalty kick saved and another missed to begin the shootout down 2-0, things couldn't have been more bleak for Morgan.

The Trojans did battle back to make it 3-2 going into the decisive fifth round of spot kicks, but Judge needed only to make one more penalty kick to knock out the Trojans.

So who did Ferrin turn to in that moment?

Oh, only a back-up goalie whose only varsity experience over the entire season consisted of playing one half of one preseason game two months ago.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Ferrin decided to insert Stegelmeier into the match, and her reserve keeper came up with the goods.

Diving to her right, Stegelmeier saved Judge's potential game-winner to keep Morgan alive.

From there, Kersey Davis converted a kick to level the shootout at 3-3, and after Judge missed its next kick, Fairbourn calmly converted hers to send Morgan to the title game.

"I had no clue. I had no idea," said Stegelmeier when asked if she was aware that Ferrin would use her in the shootout. "It was very unexpected."

Stegelmeier's clutch save and Fairbourn's subsequent game-winner capped what proved to be a wild semifinal.