She earned it.

“This is my second game playing varsity. My first was last week against Weber. I go to practice and I work hard. Every day I act like it’s a tryout,” Henley said. “I wanted to make varsity, so I went to every film, everything. I do my best and I think the coaches saw my potential.

“My first playoff game; honestly, I was a little nervous. But, I had to have the mindset I’m here on the field for a reason and I need to show that reason,” Henley said. “You lose a ball, you need to go get it back … keep going and going and going.”

Henley’s mantra paid dividends when she scored to break a 0-0 halftime knot in the 57th minute, sparking No. 2 Syracuse to a 2-0 home victory over the No. 15 Aviators and sending the Titans to the playoff quarterfinals.

“You have to go and attack the ball; I saw that space and I saw that run. We were in our attacking third and Indy (Heap) was dribbling. She played a through ball and I was there and one-touched it right into the goal out of the air,” Henley said. “The main thing is you have to follow through; you can’t expect the ball to come to you … call for the ball. I was doing that this whole entire game. I had the momentum; that’s how it was.”

Taylee Hughes added a penalty kick 7 minutes later to add cushion and help the Titans across the finish line.

“You can’t go into games thinking you’re going to win; it can go all different ways,” Henley said. “You need to go play your game because they’re going to show up and play their game; not expecting to win…you need to show it.”

Henley did her best to put her freshman fears aside.

“I was telling myself I was going to score. I can’t get too much in my head, because that’s going to have me make mistakes. I got my goal because I didn’t give up on the play.”

A scoreless first half saw the Titans (16-3) make some adjustments after the break.

“We talked about not being on frame. We needed to get our shots on target,” Henley said. “We were trying to play our balls over the top and switched the formation; that helped us get more chances,” Henley said.

Erin Bott was in goal for Syracuse and said her defense also had to adjust to Cedar Valley’s (9-11) style of play to keep them off the board until the Titans could break through.

“They were packing it in on their defense; they were playing two high and we only had three defenders — Eva Christensen, Carlie Hobbs and Mckenzie Hislop — the whole game until the very end, so we were very good to adjust and make that difference and lock them down,” Bott said. “We decided if they were going to have so many defenders, why not push our forwards up. … We did good.”

Similar to Henley, Bott, a senior, also had to earn her stripes before becoming a starter for the Titans.

“I haven’t got all varsity time in high school until this year, so it’s super exciting to play the whole season and put up a shutout in the playoffs,” Bott said.

Speaking of paying your dues, Bott and Christensen were announced during the second half as academic all-state honorees for Syracuse.

“It’s super cool; I’ve worked really hard to keep my 4.0,” Bott said. “It’s hard with soccer season to keep your grades up, but my teachers have been great.”

Tuesday’s match was played at night (a 7 p.m. kickoff) under wet, rainy, windy conditions on artificial turf.

“Obviously, it’s freaking cold, but I like playing on turf. The ball moves way faster and that’s how we play a lot better; one touch, two touch … very high pace,” Henley said. “We love playing at night, getting a lot of fans and support in the stands.”

Syracuse remains at home with a 4 p.m. Thursday kick against No. 10 Corner Canyon, who edged No. 7 Weber to keep the two Region 1 rivals from a testy rematch. Conditions could again be challenging with rain in the forecast.