High school girls soccer: Lone Peak cements itself as 6A title threat with dominant win over Maple Mountain

Since the launch of the 6A classification in 2017, no team in the classification has won back-to-back girls soccer state titles.

This year, however, Lone Peak stands poised with a strong opportunity to break that streak.

Last season’s Lone Peak team speaks for itself, as it boasted a 20-1 record and 16 shutouts while outscoring opponents 90-8 en route to winning the 6A championship.

The Knights graduated just five seniors from last year’s group, yet head coach Shantel Jolley is treating this year’s squad like a new team.

“We feel like we’re a new team, but we’re still building off last year because we have so many that came back,” Jolley said. “We’ve got a really talented senior class, and they’ve stepped up and started leading really well, so we’re excited about what we can keep doing.”

Standing among Lone Peak’s eight seniors is 2023-24 Deseret News’ Ms. Soccer Bella Devey , who stood out as a glue piece for the Knights with 11 goals and 12 assists on the season.

Devey continued to showcase just how strong she and her team are as Lone Peak powered its way to a dominant 6-0 road win over defending 5A champion Maple Mountain on Wednesday.

“It’s really exciting and I love this team,” said Devey, who recorded a goal and an assist in Wednesday’s game. “We all have such a good relationship and it’s just great to come back and play with them because they’re obviously such high-level players.”

Devey isn’t doing it alone. Senior forward Samantha Sellers has been a key force so far this season, leading the Knights in scoring with six goals.

Sellers has tallied 30 goals and 21 assists in her tenure with Lone Peak while also earning 2023-24 6A all-state first-team honors. She also matched Devey’s one goal and one assist in Wednesday’s game.

“I think we have a lot of good talent,” Sellers said. “We’re good at working together and just coming out hard every game and we put everything out on the field.”

Lone Peak’s depth complements its star power, as six different players found the back of the net in Wednesday’s game. The Knights have outscored their opponents 23-1 in their opening four games and have had nine different players record goals.

While October’s state tournament is still a long way away, Lone Peak has already started a strong bid to claim the first-ever back-to-back 6A championship.

Though Lone Peak enters the season as the defending 6A champions, Jolley refuses to let that label define her team’s ambitions.

“I think our mentality that I’ve tried to tell them is we’re not defending any sort of title,” Jolley said. “While winning another one is essentially our goal, and as much as we want to live off last year and build off last year, we know we are a different team.

“We know it’s not going to be the same path as last year. We’re going to have to go out and win another one as if we hadn’t won last year.”