What a game. Ultimately, Phoenix Desert Vista celebrated a 1-0 victory against Central Region rival Phoenix Mountain Pointe on Wednesday night in the nightcap of the 5A Division I girls soccer state semifinals.

The Thunder will face Tempe Corona del Sol — also a Central Region rival — in the state championship at 5 p.m. Friday at ASU’s soccer stadium.

Getting there, however, was a wild, exhausting and controversial journey.

Katlyn Piotrowski drew a penalty kick seven minutes into the first half, and the Desert Vista junior blistered her shot into the corner of the net for the game’s only goal.

Time and again the No. 2 seed Pride hounded Desert Vista goalie Lauren Mitchell in the second half. Time and again, Mitchell threw herself into the ball, and though her body hurt, her team was left standing and smiling.

“This is an amazing feeling,” she said with her voice hoarse from yelling.

Four times in the second half, Mitchell took a ball off her body to make saves against the Pride’s dynamic duo of Alexandra Elston and Erica Long. Twice, Mountain Pointe shots hit the crossbar.

And a physical game involving two of the top four schools in the state couldn’t end without a pinch of bizarre.

With 30 seconds left, the Pride forced the ball directly in front of Desert Vista’s goal. A scrum of players from both sides feverishly went for it, but neither side could gain control, and the ball scooted back and forth from foot to foot.

With three Thunder players hugging the goal line, Mitchell went to make a diving stop.

She said as soon as she touched the ball on her fingertips she was flattened by a hoard of bodies and got kicked in the face.

Mitchell, incidentally, recently returned from a concussion suffered in mid-January.

Another mad rush ensued, and Mitchell ended up in the net holding the ball. The officials ruled a goal and the game appeared to be tied. But the call was reversed, as the officials declared a handball by Mountain Pointe.

Mountain Pointe players and the bench leapt up in disbelief, but it didn’t matter.

“Without a doubt (it was a legal goal),” Mountain Pointe coach Kirk Nelson said. “Even if something happened after, I thought it crossed the goal before then.”

Polarized emotions were rampant on the field afterward. Mountain Pointe felt robbed. Desert Vista felt relief.“

She was huge, just phenomenal,” Thunder coach Paul Manoogian said of his goalie. “Kara Miller in the middle and Lauren were unbelievable.”