Fremont vs Davis - Pre Game

From the Standard Examiner

"SANDY -- Under the bright lights, on the biggest of stages, silver and gold will meet one more time to decide just that.

Region 1 rivals Davis (18-1-0) and Fremont (16-3-0) will tangle tonight at 7 p.m. on the spectacular pitch of Rio Tinto Stadium to decide the state 5-A boys soccer championship.

"We're excited; it's anybody's game," Fremont coach Bryan Gines said. "We split with them during the season. They know us; we know them. It's gonna be a dogfight.

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"We've got to deal with their speed up front, and they do have people that can score, but so do we."

Fremont, making its first ever state soccer championship game appearance, is the only team to beat Davis this season, shutting out the Darts 1-0 in overtime on April 29 in Plain City. Davis beat Fremont 5-0 in the teams' first meeting on March 30 at Angel Street Soccer Complex, which was the last time this season the Silver Wolves lost a game.

Fremont has won 13 straight since that loss, outscoring its opposition 42-11 during that span.

"I told the kids (Monday), I'm pretty sure that no team has ever made it to the finals without winning a semifinal game, and so we wanted to focus in on (Granger)," Davis coach Soulivanh Phongsavath said. "I know Rio Tinto is a great place to think about, but we didn't want to think about it until we actually took care of business.

"That's what this team does. Whatever's placed before them, they take care of business. When we lost, and that was our first type of adversity throughout the season, they responded really well and we came out and played two or three really good games to respond to that."

Davis leads the state in just about every statistical category, racking up a 71-4 goal differential and 15 shutouts in 19 games. Senior forward Casey Black, who failed to score for just the third time this season in Davis' semifinal win over Granger, leads the state in scoring with 27 goals.

"We'll have a lot of motivation, but they're a great team. No matter what, we're gonna have to come in hard," Black said. "If we do end up playing them at the pitch at Rio Tinto Stadium, it's a lot bigger than they're used to.

They like to use their long throw-ins, they like to just send everything up and see what they can get. With that kind of a field, I think it suits us better because we play at a big field at Angel. We can work it around better than they can. It's gonna be a great game."