(Brock Laue)
LAFAYETTE — The Cherry Creek girls have been the Roman Empire of Colorado lacrosse for years with 10 state titles.
The Bruins have reached every single state final since CHSAA sanctioned the sport in 1998. They are the No. 1 ranked team in this week’s CHSAANow poll, and are the defending state champions.
Centaurus, which reached the title game for the first time last year, has been a rising power looking to unseat Cherry Creek.
The Warriors took a step in the right direction Thursday with a 9-6 victory over the Bruins, giving Cherry Creek its first loss this season at Spangenberg Field at Centaurus High School.
“It feels fantastic,” said Centaurus’ Sarah Brown, a midfielder and a University of Colorado signee. “They’re an amazing team and we just wanted to prove to them that we are meant to be here. At practice, we just went through and set all of our weaknesses into strengths and put that into a game. We did exactly that. We proved to them that we’re in the run to win and that we are a good team.”
In a state championship rematch, Centaurus turned the tables from a 20-10 Cherry Creek win last year to an impressive defensive performance Thursday. Goalkeeper Kayli Weiss held the Bruins to only three goals each half and the Warriors utiltized their speed in a defensive smothering. They held a 6-3 halftime lead.
“We practice a lot on defense, because you always hear attack wins games, defense wins championships,” Brown said.
“Two teams with strong attacks and strong defenses, so they shut us down at certain times and we shut them down at certain times,” Centaurus coach Genny Horning said. “For us, more than anything, we were really patient and really deliberate and made sure that every possession counted.”
Brown’s six goals provided enough firepower offensively for the Warriors to secure the win.
“Sarah is such a strong player,” Horning said about her leading scorer this season. “She’s quick, she has great stick skills, she’s smart, she has great field sense, and she is really good at reading the defense.
“She’s somebody that a lot of other teams are watching and trying to stop. She shares the ball, she’s not a selfish player at all, so it just makes us stronger. She brings the level of our play up.”
Centaurus was elated after its first victory over Cherry Creek in program history. Brown said the team has made great strides this season.
“Creek is a team that doesn’t have a bad mental game ever and being able to play against them in state was great,” Brown said about last year’s championship game. “It was really just a bummer how we played and we let that mental game get to us, so it was great to see how we didn’t let it get to us now, how we’ve grown in that way.”
The Bruins have been the Warriors’ kryptonite and ended several playoff runs in recent years.
“The year before we played against Creek, lost to them by 10 again, and I think the year before that it was also Creek, lost to them,” Brown said. “Going into the season, we wanted to prove to everyone that it wasn’t the refs, we weren’t just lucky, we are good players.”
Horning is pleased with the continued development of her Centaurus program with steady progress during her eight years as coach.
“Our history is we’ve been pretty bad,” Horning admitted. “We used to be out of Boulder High and now were at Centaurus. We’ve just slowly worked our way up the ranks. We were in the state championship game last year and the two years prior to that we were in the semifinals and the year before that we were fifth. The year before that we were lucky to be in the playoffs losing to Creek 20-0.”
“We have a lot of strong players this year,” Horning noted. “I would say that this year we have more height than we’ve had in the past and better stick skills. As we’ve grown as a program, we’ve had a couple players and now it’s kind of from below. We have a lot of just really good players. They can all handle the ball, they can all handle the pressure that they showed today, and they’re able to score. We have a lot of depth.”
That depth was on display Thursday with Weiss’ goalkeeping and the offensive help of Olivia Holmes (two goals) and Ellie Meyer (one goal).
Brown also pointed to Centaurus’ depth and all-around talent as a strength this season.
“We’re fast and I know so many girls have stepped it up,” Brown said. “Even our defense is great at shooting and our defense is so fast too. We’ve been hustling more this year for groundballs. We’ve gotten better at draw. Anybody on the team, I would say, could play defense or attack. I don’t think that they are just one dimensional.”
Centaurus, now 4-0 and ranked third in the current CHSAANow poll, have several tough games ahead.
The Warriors travel to Florida next week to take on Poly Prep Country Day (N.Y.) and Flint Hill (Va.) before clashing with No. 2 Air Academy in another monumental matchup.
“We have all the top 10 teams right now on our schedule,” Horning said. “We have a pretty intense schedule.”
“We’re not peaking now,” Brown said after one of, if not the best, regular season win in Centaurus’ history. “We’re just going to continue to grow.”
“There’s so many good teams right now, so we just have to go in with the same mindset and be prepared,” Brown concluded.
Centaurus announced themselves as one of those good teams again. The Warriors look to be a very serious state championship contender.