Manti celebrates after defeating Judge Memorial for the 3A soccer championship at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. Manti won in the second overtime 1-0. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
The Templars defeated the Judge Memorial Bulldogs 1-0 in double overtime, on a golden goal by Olson with just over two minutes remaining in the 3A state championship game
SANDY — The Manti Templars had no intention of letting the state championship be decided by penalty kicks.
None whatsoever.
They informed Manti head coach Eleshia Steinfeldt of as much, after battling with the Judge Memorial Bulldogs for 80 minutes of scoreless soccer Saturday afternoon in the 3A state championship game held at Rio Tinto Stadium.
“They came out and decided they’d made it this far and they weren’t going to let it go to kicks,” Steinfeldt said. “They said it in the huddle, ‘We are not going to kicks. Let’s take care of it.’”
Through the first 10 minute overtime period, they didn’t take care of it, however, though not for a lack of trying.
The same held true for nearly eight minutes of the second overtime period, too.
Then, with just over two minutes remaining before a penalty shootout would decide the state championship, the Templars made good on their word.
Senior Megan Olson, the team’s leading goal scorer this season, drilled a ball into the top right corner of the net.
With that, the Templars made history as they defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 in double overtime to win the 3A state championship, the first state title in program history.
“It is crazy. It means so much,” Olson said. “It is a dream come true and we did it all as a team. It is for her (Steinfeldt), it is for our community, it is for us and for past Manti players. It is for everyone. We won it as a team. We did this together.”
That has been Manti soccer all season long, according to Steinfeldt.
“We’ve talked about nobody goes alone, we go with numbers and you work hard,” she said. “If you get beat, and it is going to happen, someone is going to step for you and you are going to recover.”
For much of Saturday’s contest, the Templars needed all the help they could get.
Early on, Judge Memorial, playing in its third consecutive state title game, looked the better team, with almost all momentum in the Bulldogs favor.
Slowly but surely, though, the Templars battled back.
“At first, we came out and we were going soft,” Steinfeldt said. “They were beating us to the ball. Finally, finally, we started being first to the ball and they saw that when they got first to the ball and played aggressive things happened. I don’t know what happened, but finally they decided they’d had enough and wanted to be first to the ball.”
First to the ball eventually turned into shots on goal, and as regulation came to a close Manti peppered the Bulldogs’ goal with shot after shot, via Olson, Kassidy Alder, Sadie Cartwright and others.
The trend continued into overtime, until Olson finally found her breakthrough.
“What can you say? That is the goal that dreams are made of,” Steinfeldt said. “That is what you dream about at night, right? Megan has been great for us all year long. She is one of those kids that, if you noticed, she battled. She got knocked around, even came out of the game limping from a boot to the thigh, but she kept fighting. She’s got heart, she’s got guts, as do all of these kids.”
- Watch replay: Manti 1, Judge Memorial 0
Together, they led Manti to the state championship, a title game victory long in the making.
For Olson and her Templar teammates, the goal of winning state goes back to fourth grade.
“This group of girls, the varsity team, we’ve been together since fourth grade,” Olson said. “This has been our dream. In our yearbooks we’d write ‘Rio Tinto, here we come!’ We have been working for it forever. Senior year we made it. It is just a dream come true.”
Not just for the girls on the field Saturday, though.
For Steinfeldt, the title is years and years in the making, 14 to be exact, and a dream come true for every girl who has ever worn a Templars uniform.
“It is not just this team. These are all my girls too,” Steinfeldt said, with tears in her eyes, as she gestured to hundreds of women of all ages in the stands. Women, who per Steinfeldt, were former Templars themselves.
“This is 14 years in the making,” she said. “To have your girls, all your girls, it is pretty amazing. It is something we have all wanted to do for so long.”
And now, at long last, the Manti Templars are state champions.
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