SANDY — Here it was. The Alta High Hawks were watching time tick down (up, in the case of soccer wind up) to its fourth consecutive state championship. The Hawks players were hugging, their fans up applauding the feat, coaches high fiving...but at the far end of the field Davis High all-everything Katie Taylor had the ball and with it the Darts still had a chance.

“I knew we could get something,” Taylor said. “I just kept looking and I knew Kenzie (Harrison) would find a way to get open.”

Harrison did get open and Taylor, surrounded by four Alta players, somehow managed to fire a kick to her teammate. Harrison then rifled off a shot that hit the back of the net with just 14 seconds to play in regulation, sending the Dart faithful into pandemonium.

“Kenzie and I had talked before the game that we would do something like this, and it happened,” Taylor said.

The heads up, once-in-a-lifetime play between the two Darts pushed the game into one overtime, then a second.

After 100 minutes of grueling, thrilling play the Hawks finally earned their state title, winning 4-3 in the shootout in what will be simply known as “The Game” in years to come to those who love girls soccer.

“It’s always hard to lose,” said Davis coach Souli Phongsavath. “But Alta is a great team, and they got the job done. I’m extremely proud of the way our girls fought.

“They never gave up.”

And the Darts battled from behind all night long.

Just minutes after the game began Alta scored to go up 1-0.

In the 25th minute Davis’ Sammi Swan launched a laser from 30 yards out that tied the game at 1-1.

After Alta took the lead again, it was Camille Ostler with the flip throw finding Alexi Dunn to tie the score 2-2.

Alta jumped ahead again setting up the dramatics by Taylor and Harrison.

“It’s amazing when you think how hard we fought,” Phongsavath said. “We were down, tied, then down and tied — and then down and it looked like out — but these girls just won’t quit.

“It shows the personality of this team.”

“We wanted this game so bad for our seniors,” Taylor said. “We have a young team, and our seniors have meant so much to all of us. We wanted this so much for them.”

One of those seniors, Jamie Wilkinson, gave the Hawks fits all night, turning away shot after shot.

“Jamie was amazing in goal tonight,” Taylor said.

It was also senior Danielle Figgins and Bailey Eames who anchored a defense that neutralized defending Ms. Soccer Utah Kealia Ohai of Alta. With Figgins and Eames blanketing the Hawks’ star and with the help of the other Dart defenders, Ohai was forced to find teammates rather than put on a scoring display.

“Our defense was great,” Phongsavath said. “Figgins and Eames were all over Ohai tonight, and we did a lot of great things to keep Alta at bay.”

The Hawks scored off throw-ins and a free kick.

“This will hurt for a few days, but we did all we could,” Taylor said.

sschulte@davisclipper.com