DRAPER — For a few minutes, it looked like Syracuse High girls soccer was going to grab the game-winning goal and move on to the state championship game.

Instead, the Titans and No. 5 Skyridge went to a penalty shootout, the great and nervous equalizer of any soccer game, in their cold, Tuesday semifinal at Juan Diego High.

Skyridge won that shootout 4-1, breaking the 2-2 regulation deadlock to end the Titans’ season. Syracuse coach Taylor Allen felt like the team had all the momentum in the second half, scoring two goals and getting chances at a few more. It wasn’t enough in the end.

Normally when the state soccer tournament gets to its business end, things get weird and, generally speaking, whichever team converts a chaotic goalscoring chance ends up winning.

The lion’s share of bonafide goalscoring chances fell to No. 8 Syracuse. The chaotic chance fell to Skyridge.

On a cold, rainy day, both teams had trouble with the wet ball on the wet field.

One of the dozens of mishandlings or mishits Tuesday was late in the first half, when a cross by Kalena Bellini was mishandled by Syracuse goalkeeper Tayiah Lambert and Skyridge’s Olivia Barlow converted the rebound.

The way the game transpired the first 55 minutes, it looked like that goal would be the only one.

Syracuse’s Avery Sanders battles for possession against a Skyridge defender during the 6A girls soccer state semifinals Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, at Juan Diego High School in Draper.

All the forward runs the Titans (13-7) got from Abby Schofield down the wing in the first half turned into crosses that were turned away by Skyridge defenders.

Syracuse had a couple corner kicks early in the second half. Both were cleared out. Titans players manufactured shots on goal from outside the box. They were hit right at the goalkeeper.

Apart from the one chaotic chance Skyridge had late in the first half, Syracuse’s defense had things locked down on its end. The game became a matter of whether the Titans could make something out of their many runs forward.

That finally happened in the 56th minute when Schofield broke away down the right side and her cross deflected in off a Falcons player to tie the game 1-1, the first of what would be a three-goal burst over five minutes.

Four minutes later, Skyridge was celebrating a 2-1 lead when Bellini scored on a chance that fell to her because the ball rebounded off her teammate’s face when Syracuse tried to clear the ball.

Not even a minute later, Syracuse had the game tied 2-2 with a Cortney Cobabe goal. By then, the Titans were practically living in the Skyridge half of the field and the game looked all the world like it was waiting for a Syracuse game-winner.

Instead, it went to penalties.

Syracuse coach Taylor Allen indicated after the game that the Titans are better in penalty kicks during practice than they were in Tuesday’s shootout. Skyridge made all four of its kicks, though Lambert nearly kept out two. Syracuse missed two of its three attempts.

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