From Yakima Herald Republic's Sports Reporter Jasper Sundeen... It took all 90 minutes and then some for the Davis boys soccer team to punch through the first state semifinal appearance in school history, a 3-2 (4-1) penalty kick victory. The 13th seeded Pirates had been in cruise control late in the second half of the 4A state quarterfinal against No. 12 Union after securing a 2-0 lead through goals from juniors Edwin Diaz and Cipriano Acosta. As clouds gathered and the wind whipped through, lightning struck twice in the game’s dying seconds. The visiting Titans found two late goals and salvaged extra time from thin air. Davis reasserted pressure and dominance in the middle of the field, but no decisive goal was forthcoming. Fans crowded the field’s edge and pressed against the chain-link fence surrounding the field. Cars honked on the street and, in the shade of looming thunder clouds, the quarterfinal went to penalties. Pirate goalkeeper Alexander Capi had been bothered by very little until Union’s goals, but when called on Saturday, he answered. The junior had been outstanding throughout the season, helping his side to two penalty kick victories over league rival Sunnyside, and his two saves against the Titans carried Davis into the semifinals. “I wasn’t busy at all right up until the end. They just kept attacking, attacking, attacking. They just kept coming at me,” Capi said. “I went in confident to the shootout … I went with my gut feeling and I stopped it.” After a 2-2 draw in regulation and extra time, the Pirates won 4-1 on penalties. “It feels amazing. We’re going to the final four of state for 4A. It feels unreal,” Capi said. “This squad, it’s just a good team to be with.” Home field advantage made a difference for the Pirates, who looked more comfortable on the ball and were at the best when stringing one-touch passes together and gliding into space on the wings. Mistakes and poor touches ate away at Union’s possession. Too many times, a ball would be misplayed, mistouched or left behind by a Titan player, letting Davis spring into a counterattack. Diaz scored the game’s opening goal when he pounced on a bouncing ball, sped past the Union defense and put his shot into the bottom right corner. The second half was noticeably cooler as clouds and wind rushed in from the north. In its opening stages, the Titans turned the ball over again in the middle of the pitch. Diaz sent a curving through ball into the path of Acosta, who cut inside, then outside around a Union defender and doubled the Davis lead. Union struggled to create offense all game and had just one shot on goal in the first half before committing more players forward after the break. That formation, which left a skeleton crew on defense, gave Davis the space to counterattack, and Pirates coach Cristian Gonzalez went to his bench regularly to keep energy and speed on the field. “My depth and my bench is my strong suit,” Gonzalez said. “That’s a strong characteristic for my boys and for us as a program.” For so much of the game, Davis’s back four were stout t in the air, winning balls and playing out of the back. With just over four minutes left, though, Union junior Caleb Putney snuck in from the left side and cut the lead in two. A handful of seconds later, senior Garik Shevchuk would bring the Titans level, poking in a ball that had come off the crossbar on a chaotic corner kick. “We get a little comfortable, we don’t capitalize and we allow teams to get back into it with us,” Gonzalez said of the blown lead. “We got to be able to finish strong just as well as we start.” The Pirates were unable to take back the lead in open play, but come penalties, the home field advantage became almost overwhelming. Davis fans were deafening as Union players stepped up to take their penalties and hundreds roared as Capi maintained his penalty-saving excellence. “We put the word out back on Tuesday night when we beat Curtis,” Gonzalez said. “Everyone came through today, all the fan, players, alumni, students. It was overwhelming. It was great.” Davis’s Ezrah Ochoa, Ethan Rojas, Juan Diaz and Antonio Garcia converted their penalties. Junior Liam Wendel and senior Ethan Voves both had their shots stopped by Capi. Sophomore Canaan Moore converted his kick, but it was too little, too late as Garcia put the game to bed. The Davis faithful rushed the field and smiles ran rampant across the faces of players and fans alike. The Pirates will travel west for the a semifinal at 7 p.m. game on Friday in Puyallup’s Sparks Stadium. They will play No. 1 Newport or No. 8 Puyallup.