Girls' soccer: Davis High's Mikayla Colohan named 2015 Tribune MVP

Colohan invaluable in Davis' run to state and national titles.
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Kaysville • Midfielder is one of those soccer positions that requires an athlete to often shun glory to provide assists to forwards or do the dirty work that comes by dropping back to play defense.

Mikayla Colohan, The Salt Lake Tribune's 2015 girls' soccer Most Valuable Player, filled those roles and more in leading Davis to its second straight Class 5A title and a national high school soccer championship.

"I like to help on both sides of the ball," said the junior, who has already committed to play for BYU. "I like to get back and help keep the other team from scoring. And I like attacking. I want to score. I love to score. But it's not my main priority. I like to set up my teammates."

While Colohan scored the only goal in the Darts' 1-0 win over Weber in the state title game, most of the time she was setting up her team's goal-scorers with assists.

Davis coach Soulyvanh Phongsavath, who has coached Colohan since she was 10, said that everything his team did ran through her.

"Early on, it was pretty evident how talented she was," he said. "My job as a coach was not to screw up with her. She was going to be talented and successful regardless of who the coach was. The goal was to get the most out of all the talent she has."

Phongsavath praised Colohan's great vision on the field as well as her unselfishness.

"Her ability to distribute is why she is so valuable to us," he said. "She is able to put the ball wherever she wants it. I have worked with her to vary her distribution. She can go through, over the top, flock or chip. … She finds different ways to beat you. She is able to beat by scoring with her shot. She showed a whole range of skills in the final."

Colohan's unselfishness is revealed by her 37 assists during the season, in addition to 14 goals. That accounted for nearly half of Davis' scores. She also helped the Darts give up only eight goals all season.

"Mikayla would rather have an assist than a goal any day," said the Dart coach. "She takes joy in giving a great pass and seeing somebody else score. She has learned to balance between giving the ball away and when she can take it. An attacking midfielder is like a point guard."

Colohan began playing the sport when she was 4, largely because that's what all her friends were doing. When she moved to her first competition team, she began getting hooked on the sport.

Though she has no trouble maintaining a 3.95 grade point average, most of her free time revolves around soccer. During the season, she practices with her high school teams for about 90 minutes every day, plays two games a week, and joins her La Roca club team for another three practices a week.

Soccer has given Colohan a chance to travel around the country.

"My most memorable trip was to the nationals in Oklahoma," she said. "That might not be the best place to be, but, for the soccer experience, it was the best and the coolest. We were playing the best teams in the country. There were a lot of people from the U.S. team watching you."

She hopes to one day get an invite to a national team camp. She took a trip to Florida during Thanksgiving week with her region team, a step below the national team.

"If I do well at this, I could get invited to a national camp," she said.

Colohan said she is enjoying a sports psychology class at Davis because it relates well to everything she does at soccer. She could picture herself majoring in psychology or becoming an athletic trainer.

She said she used to play basketball and golf with her family, but now her full attention is on soccer.

Next year, Colohan will again need to be a leader. Leading scorer Olivia Wade, who played all three positions for Davis this season, is back, but high-scoring Ireland Dunn and top defender Haley Cacciacarne graduate.

"We have a lot of people who need to step up for next year and prove themselves," she said. "But we could be just as good. If we play well, we can take state again."

For now, Colohan can savor a national and a state championship and the big role she played in earning both.

wharton@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribtomwharton —

About Mikayla Colohan

• Scored 14 goals and added 37 assists, accounting for nearly half of Davis' goals for the season.

• Contributed to a defense that allowed only eight goals all season.

• Scored the only goal in the Darts' Class 5A championship game win over Weber.

• Helped lead Davis to the national championship as decided by USA Today and the National Soccer Coaches Association.