(Brock Laue)
NIWOT — Broomfield girls soccer had claimed five Northern Conference crowns in a row entering Thursday’s road game.
In a battle of undefeated league teams, Niwot made the Eagles work for title No. 6, but Broomfield ultimately kept its stranglehold on the Northern with a 3-1 victory.
The win gave the Eagles a 6-0 conference record with a game against Longmont remaining. They hold the tiebreaker over Niwot (6-1), which completed its league campaign.
No. 8 Niwot pounced on No. 2 Broomfield with a Caroline Miller goal off a deflected shot by Maria Fayeulle. The goal came less than a minute into the Class 4A game.
“It definitely woke me up a little bit,” said Broomfield senior forward Brittney Stark, a University of Colorado recruit, about the deficit. “It’s always scary to go down a goal any time in the game, but especially that early in the game, in a game that we were hoping to come out strong for.
“I think we ended up on our heels a little more than we were expecting, so it was a good wakeup call and I’m proud of my team for pulling through it, because it’s a hard thing to do.”
Broomfield controlled possession for the most part after the early goal as Stark, Katie Forsee and the Eagles’ other experienced midfielders and forwards applied pressure on Niwot’s defense with their speed and ball skills.
Broomfield earned an equalizer with 11 minutes left in the first half as Stark found Forsee on a cross, who put it in the back of the net.
“To find ourselves down, with our experience, I never felt panicked, the girls never felt panicked,” Broomfield coach Jim Davidson said. “We had already created a couple of opportunities. Ultimately, we played ourselves back in, but I was glad, obviously, we equalized before halftime. It might have been a little bit harder in the second half trying to chase the game a bit.”
The physicality of the match picked up in the second half as both teams eyed the conference crown. Broomfield took advantage of a Cougar foul in the box that set up a Kerri Marquardt penalty kick attempt. She converted to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 29 minutes remaining.
Kristin Snyder all but sealed the victory with a ridiculous angle shot on the far right side. The goal gave Broomfield a 3-1 lead with 13:20 on the clock. The Eagles could taste another conference championship.
Davidson was pleased with the victory over a tough squad that entered the match 11-1.
“Niwot is a much improved team from last year, so I think that they deserve a lot of credit,” Davidson said. “It’s always fun to come here and these games are always a grind. I think our girls handled themselves well ultimately. It wasn’t real pretty. It wasn’t the kind of soccer that we really wanted to play today, but it was effective.”
Stark, a varsity player all four years at Broomfield, hopes the team builds off the win on their way to the playoffs in two weeks.
“I think it was a good team win,” Stark said. “As a team, I think we played really well and we played together well. That’s what’s important nearing the postseason, is being able to connect on the team, and not on an individual level, but on a team level.”
“We need to become a little more consistent near the goal and connecting with our midfielders and our forwards,” Stark added. “When we connect midfielders and forwards together, we’re unstoppable, and I think we have a lot of potential going forward if we do that. It’s starting to fall into place. As long as we keep that going, we’re going to be fine.”
The Eagles, who returned nine starters off last year’s state runner-up team, had a wealth of experience headed into the season in the frontline and with Paige Lindbloom, a returning starter at goalie, but were youthful defensively.
Stark said it’s been a process incorporating new talent into the defense.
“It definitely took a couple of games,” Stark said. “Our first couple of games were a little rougher, but we got blessed with a very, very, very good and experienced freshman class. Everybody that is coming in is definitely making a difference on the team, which is impressive as freshman, because that’s hard to do on a team that’s as experienced and old as us with eight or nine seniors in our class.”
Zoe Zinis, a sophomore transfer from Mullen, sat out half the season due to CHSAA rules. The talented defensive newcomer displayed her skills on Thursday.
Niwot’s Maria Fayeulle, a Northwestern recruit and the leading scorer in the Northern Conference with 45 points, including a league-leading 17 goals, gave Broomfield trouble right away.
“We struggled a little bit early,” Davidson said of defending Fayeulle. “I thought they found her in good space and she did a good job going deep for the ball, but then we brought Zoe Zinis on and we tried to match speed for speed and that worked out really well for us.”
Broomfield’s combination of talent, leadership, and experience earned them a checkmark next to one of their goals, a conference championship. This season, they have had their sights set on a bigger prize, though, after losing 2-0 to Cheyenne Mountain in last year’s 4A State Championship match.
“Its last year’s state championship game that’s haunting us,” Stark said. “Obviously, that is my biggest goal this year. I want nothing more than a state championship, especially my senior year. I look forward to that and every game I think about that game, but we also are trying to remind ourselves to keep it in perspective. It’s a long road to get there. We still have a long road to go.”