She was a blur to most defenders this year — a streaking bullet on the way to the goal.

Stride for stride, it seemed no one could match Alta's Michele Murphy when she had the net in her sights. And perhaps her strongest asset was that she knew she could beat whomever she went up against.

"She is a very confident player, but there's a difference between being confident and being cocky," coach Lee Mitchell says. "But she knew when the girls were working together, they were awfully difficult to beat."

The senior scored 38 goals this year, a school record and good for fifth-best in state history. It was unexpected from a player who scored only six goals last year, but the key was a position switch after last year's striker, Rylei North, graduated and left a void.

Murphy says her brother talked Mitchell into giving her a shot up front.

"My brother is a friend of Lee's, and he thought I could do well up there," she says. "He told him to play me at forward, and when he did, I put a few goals in."

It was more than a few. Murphy turned out the most prolific scoring in Alta's history — no small title considering the women who have played there. In eight games, she scored three goals or more.

But while Murphy was the deadliest option in Alta's furious attack this year, her most devastating weapon might have been her ability to dish to teammates. She had a knack for penetrating deep into an opponent's side of the field, drawing multiple defenders and finding an open teammate who could finish off the score.

One of her favorite targets was fellow captain Lexe Selman, who was second on the team with 22 goals.

"The great thing about Michele is that she did look to get everybody else involved," Mitchell says. "When teams focused solely on her, she would hit it to somebody else and they would do the damage."

But in the championship game against Viewmont, it only made sense that the burden would fall to Murphy to make the game-winning shot. In the 65th minute, she broke free, finding an open window for a second, and launched a goal that would make the Hawks state champions once again.

Murphy says she never doubted that this Alta team would win it all.

"We thought it was really important to win for our team this year instead of worrying about the past," Murphy said. "We all wanted to win. We knew we were taking it all the way or nothing."

kgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon