(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
AIR FORCE ACADEMY — It took exactly 63 seconds to stave off devastation.
Centaurus had led the whole way against Air Academy in Tuesday afternoon’s girls lacrosse game matching the top two teams from this week’s CHSAANow.com ranking. But with 16:41 remaining, No. 1 Air Academy jumped on a turnover and took the lead for the first time at 8-7.
The moment had every potential to be back-breaking for the Warriors.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Yet Centaurus, ranked No. 2, won the ensuing draw and Sarah Brown eventually parked her talented self just outside the Air Academy net with her back to the goalie. She deked right, left, right, left and right again, before finding an opening and knotting the game at 8 with 15:38 to go.
No disaster. No broken backs. 63 seconds.
The Warriors would score nine of the game’s final 10 goals en route to a 17-9 win over the top-ranked Kadets.
“This team is really mentally tough,” Centaurus coach Genny Horning said afterward. “That kind of stuff, honestly, it doesn’t phase them in the negative. It encourages them to just go get the ball back. They’ve just got that shift: ‘I want the ball, I want the ball.'”
Said Brown, who scored five goals in the win: “Before every practice, every game, we get in a circle, Genny talks and we get rid of anything that’s happening outside of lacrosse. We focus on what we want to do, what goals we have, and what we want to accomplish.
“I think it really helps — we don’t let (anything) get us down. If they score, we’re going to answer back. And that’s what we do.”
Centaurus is now 7-1, 6-0 against in-state competition. Air Academy, which got two goals each from Kayley Holmes and Emily Trousil, is now 5-1 — 3-1 against Colorado teams.
The Warriors led 3-0 and 6-3 in the first half before Air Academy stormed back to tie it at 6 just before the half.
At the break, “We talked about the little things,” Horning said. “Anytime there’s a big game, there’s a little bit of that amped-up energy. And we just weren’t executing the finer things.”
As the second half dawned, Centaurus seemed like a different team. The Warriors got outstanding play from goalie Kayli Weiss, and Brown dazzled in the open field.
Among Brown’s goals was a long run with 14 minutes to play which had Horning quietly, matter-of-factly mutter to no one in particular on the sideline, “She’s gone.” Of course, there was her goal to stave off Air Academy’s momentum and knot things at 8 a little bit earlier. And then there was her sneaky-smart play with 6:26 remaining.
Brown, a senior and University of Colorado recruit, approached a heavily-defended net and feigned pulling the ball back out toward midfield. Instead, she quickly reversed field to find no one between her and the net. It resulted in her 28th goal this season. (She’s played six games.)
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“That’s what the girls on my team call the ‘Sarah move,'” Brown said. “They initially think once you turn your back, you’re going out, but if you turn right around — you’ve got to notice where your defenders are, and that’s what I try to always do.”
But it wasn’t all Brown. Sarah Myres also scored five goals, while Olivia Holmes had three and was excellent all over the field.
Then there was Weiss, who made a number of key saves. The biggest came on MacEllen McDonough’s free position shot with 10:14 to go. At the time, Centaurus led 11-8.
Weiss got a piece of the shot with her stick and Holmes quickly scooped up the ground ball. She pushed the ball down the field, and it led to Andrea Kim’s second goal of the game.
“I had a lot of energy, and I really wanted to get the ball, I wanted to attack the ball and just get the ball in my stick so I could bring it down to our offensive end,” Weiss said of the save. “It rebounded off my stick, and Olivia Holmes picked it up. It was just a beautiful transition down the field. Everyone just really executed. It turned into a pretty play.”
That made it 12-9. Ultimately, Centaurus scored the game’s final seven goals.
“We can get on a run,” Brown said. “Our confidence, obviously, goes up and then we just get in a groove. We’re like, ‘You’re open. We see you.’ It just clicks. We just work really well together when that happens.”
Centaurus now owns two wins over No. 1 teams this season. The Warriors beat then top-ranked Cherry Creek on March 20.
“Air Academy’s an amazing team. Cherry Creek had a great team,” Horning said. “We’ve got (No.7) Kent coming up, we’ve got (No. 4) Arapahoe. We’ve got a lot of big games coming up.”
Centaurus reached the title game for the first time last season. They want to get back.
“We don’t want to peak too early,” Weiss said, “but it’s definitely exciting moving forward. Just keep getting better and keep improving and really bring it as far as we can into playoffs.”