High school soccer: Springville halts OT jinx on Elizabeth Hopkins’ golden goal against Timpview

As a way to inject a little fun into practice this week, Springville coach Todd Hollingshead had his players work on their diving headers.

The opportunity to actually attempt a diving header in a game is extremely rare, so the drill was primarily just a funny way to do some team bonding while enhancing on a very little used skill.

Incredibly though, Springville defender Elizabeth Hopkins put that skill to great use on Thursday night, scoring the overtime winner against Timpview on such a shot.

The sophomore headed in Sarah Penrod's corner kick in the final minute of the first overtime to seal her team's 2-1 win over Timpview for the very rare overtime win for the Red Devils — who came into the game 0-6 in overtime and shootouts this season.

"It's mostly a fun thing, but they kind of learn how to head it, and that's what she did," Hollingshead said. "It was a diving header so we were all kind of celebrating that, but she's the kind of player that will just throw her body on the line.

"She doesn't care. She's running through all that traffic, and she dives and she got to that ball first."

Hopkins said the whole sequence was chaotic, but when she looked up after her shot and saw the ball in the net, "Oh my gosh, It was amazing, and then I just like got jumped on. I was like, 'I can't breathe.' I'm just under here and I can't breathe," she said with laughter.

The goal was Hopkins' first of the season, and helped Springville continue its strong form late in the season.

With all those overtime and shootout losses this season — three of each — the Red Devils came into Thursday's game with a 7-8 overall record and a 4-6 record in Region 7. But they've won four of their past five, with just one game remaining in the regular season.

Despite the constant up and down, Hollingshead said he's been extremely proud of how his players have never lost sight of the bigger picture. They have kept coming to practice and putting in the work every day, even when results were hard to come by.

"The girls continued to believe in each other and play for each other. It's so easy when you lose in overtime to let that wear you down, but the girls have been great. They've stayed really positive," said Hollingshead.

"We kind of told the girls all along, 'We know you're a talented team. You know you're a talented team. Just believe in each other. Give 100% effort, and then we'll have a real chance to finish strong.' So, I think that's what it is. They just believe in themselves."

A big part of Springville's success Thursday night was matching Timpview's intensity throughout the game, and then exceeding it late in the match.

After Timpview equalized early in the second half on a goal from Ava Badger, Springville wrestled back momentum by being the more dangerous team late in the second half.

That continued into overtime, as Hopkins' goal was ultimately the result of sustained pressure over several minutes.

Trevi Jackson nearly scored the golden goal a minute earlier on a breakaway, but Timpview's keeper made a great save to deflect the shot just wide of the post. On the ensuring corner kick, Springville maintained possession in a dangerous area to win a second corner, with Hopkins ultimately burying the winner.

"Soccer's an interesting sport. You can kind of feel it when you're watching. In that second half, Timpview came out, and you could sense that they were kind of controlling. They were getting more looks at goal, and they were being more aggressive. You can kind of sense something's coming, nd then they got the goal," said Hollingshead.

"And you could see in that overtime, that momentum was with us, and we just kept going and going."

Until Thursday night, Springville hadn't capitalized on that momentum in overtime. With the Red Devils' growing confidence though, they'll be a very dangerous team to deal with in the playoffs.

Springville's Penrod opened the scoring 13 minutes into the match as she buried a cross from Savannah Johnston for the early 1-0 lead.