Davis being back in the state semifinals is no surprise, but the path it took to get back has certainly been uncharacteristic compared to previous seasons.

Regardless, the 11th-seeded Darts find themselves two wins away from a state championship after a gritty 1-0 win at No. 3 Farmington in the 6A quarterfinals on Thursday.

Davis got an early goal from Samantha Maudsley and then managed the game extremely well the rest of the way as it learned from past failures in region play.

Two weeks ago in the regular season finale at Farmington, Davis jumped out to a 2-0 lead but gave it all back, falling 3-2 and limping into the playoffs losers of five of its last six region games.

Considering that Davis lost six total region games in the previous four years combined, it was definitely a wildly inconsistent season.

“I feel like we had a lot of things kind of not go our way this year. I mean, anyone can win any game, and I think every game in region was a one-goal game, so it kept on feeling like we were there but one thing didn’t go our direction and we end up losing,” said Davis coach Dillon Richens.

The playoffs are always a new season though, and Davis historically navigates them as well as any program in the state.

After earning a 2-0 win at No. 6 Lehi in Tuesday’s second round, Davis shut out Farmington on the road Thursday to advance to next Tuesday’s semifinal against No. 2 Syracuse at 4:30 p.m.

Just as it lost to Farmington twice during region, Davis also lost twice to Syracuse in region, which gives it another redemption opportunity in the semis.

Despite its so-so record in the regular season, Richins said his team has consistently been good in the opening phases of games. On Thursday though, Davis struggled in the opening moments and was under pressure right away. It was fortunate not to concede a couple times in the early stages.

Just five minutes into the game, a Davis defender miss-hit a back pass to keeper Katilyn Harris, which effectively created a 1v1 opportunity for Syracuse attacker Kameron Gurney against Harris.

Harris made an impressive point-blank save to keep the game scoreless.

“Honestly, my stomach dropped. The girl that got the ball, I’ve played with her for years, and I was determined to not let her score, because even though we know each other, it gives you that extra competition,” said Harris.

“And I just had this mindset of, wherever the ball goes, I’m not letting it go in, and even though I had that initial like drop of fear, it turned to determination.”

Richens said the magnitude of the save was obvious.

“That save, you don’t want to say saved the game, but it definitely saved momentum,” said Richens. “Getting out of that kind of gave our girls a little bit of confidence in being able to suffer, being able to not have the run of play but still not concede.”

After absorbing pressure most of those opening 10 minutes, Davis quickly flipped the script. Its high press helped pin in Farmington during a five-minute stretch that created a handful of quality shots from the edge of the penalty area, two from Maudsley and another from Kate Willard.

Davis finally broke the deadlock in the 16th minute on a terrific counter attack from Maudsley, who collected a diagonal ball near the right edge of the penalty area, cut it back to her left foot and unspooled a driven ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.

Most of Davis chances the rest of the game came in transition moments, but defensively it managed the game well despite being under it much of the second half

Farmington controlled possession after halftime and generated a dozen half-chances, but led by Harris in goal the Darts’ defense helped preserve the shutout.

“We didn’t play how we typically would like to play, but that’s also showing their character to be able to stay engaged and do the job that was required,” said Richens.

“It really is quite a simple game. It comes down to heart, desire, work rate, winning the 50-50s, winning the seconds, staying mentally engaged, so if you can do those things I think our team’s talented enough that there’s nobody we can’t beat.”