High school girls soccer: Davis beats Farmington

Following a narrow 4-3 overtime loss to Syracuse last Tuesday, Davis rebounded with two consecutive Region 1 victories. First, the Darts secured a 4-2 shootout win over Layton, followed by a strong road victory against rival Farmington.
After a one-hour lightning delay, the Darts won convincingly over the Phoenix on Tuesday, earning a decisive 3-1 win
“Lightning delays are hard because it just interrupts the flow of the game,” said Davis head coach Dillon Richens. “You don’t know how everyone’s going to come back because it’s not like you’ve had your warm-up.”
“You don’t know what everyone was doing during that lightning. So, sometimes it’s kind of tough and credit to them they had the right mentality and made it work.”
Davis had many early chances, each stopped by the Farmington defense. The Phoenix’s defense couldn’t hold on and the Darts finally broke through with a goal from Simone Packer in the 30th minute from nearly 30 yards out.
“I was pretty far out, but I just knew it was 0-0 and I felt like we just had to get one in,” said Packer “I thought, ‘I’m just going to hit it and see what happens and I was successful. I had a great ball from Brooklyn (Phongsavath) and we just connect really well on the field I think it showed. Farmington’s a great team so it’s a big win for us.”
Davis only continued to roll out of the half as Kate Willard quickly capitalized on a pass from Courtney Burbidge to take a comfortable 2-0 lead.
As the game clock winded down the 2-0 lead seemed to be more and more insurmountable. A Farmington goal from Brynlee Austin in the 53rd minute showed Davis that its lead might not be as safe as they thought.
“Soccer is just like any sport where momentum can make a big difference,” said Richens. “When we scored our second goal we got, I don’t want to say complacent, but two goals in soccer is often enough. Credit to Farmington for making it a tough, ugly game.”
Davis wanted to make sure to dash any comeback hopes for the Phoenix. In the 69th minute, the Darts’ Cadence Packer scored to take the 3-1 lead and sealed the win over their Region 1 rival.
Tuesday’s win marked the fourth win in a row over Farmington for Davis. The streak extends back to the 2022 6A championship where the Darts got the best of the Phoenix.
Davis also stays near the top of Region 1 with a 4-1 record and sits only below Syracuse who has a 5-0 record after Tuesday. Richins hopes to win-out in Davis’ remaining five games to secure a second consecutive Region 1 title.
“We’re not 5-0 but 4-1 isn’t bad,” said Richins. “The goal is to end 9-1. A win is a win and we’re glad we did, but we just want to continue to improve and go from there.”