(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Mallory Pugh couldn’t quite strike early. But she was able to strike often for the Mountain Vista Golden Eagles as they took down Class 5A’s No. 1-ranked ThunderRidge 4-1 to claim the Continental League title.
The Golden Eagles (13-2 overall, 10-0 5A Continental League) haven’t lost since they dropped their March 10 game against Pine Creek and have clear momentum going into the postseason.
“There’s soccer and then there’s Mallory Pugh soccer,” Golden Eagles coach Theresa Echtermeyer said. “She’s a special player for us and for this community. We’re very blessed to have her.”
Pugh nearly had the Eagles on the board in the opening minutes. She found herself on a clean breakaway and her shot went off Sabrina Macias and trickled toward the goal. It was kicked away at the last second by Mealii Enos to keep the game scoreless.
“I would’ve loved for it to go in,” Pugh said. “I know Sabrina, she and I are really good friends, I was disappointed in myself but I gotta give it to her, she made a really good save there.”
The Grizzlies (13-1, 9-1) were able to to take advantage of the break minutes later as a Shae Holmes shot went was deflected by Golden Eagles keeper Kylie Love but into the waiting foot of Jamie Brunworth who found the open net.
“We felt good about it,” Grizzlies coach Chris Smith said. “We had the momentum and we knew they had pace, but we didn’t know they had that much pace.”
The Golden Eagles didn’t let the 1-0 deficit get to them continued to press on the attack. They hit pay dirt in the 25th minute as Katie Joella found Pugh who made a great move to shake her defender and bury her shot to tie the game.
“In these big games, I know that we all kind of settle down,” Pugh said. “We were all really flustered in the first 10 minutes when they scored and after that we really brought it and started communicating.”
Mountain Vista continued to dominate time of possession and the tie game was short-lived as a result. Pugh was able to corral the ball from the Grizlies and beat Macias again to give her team a 2-1 lead that would hold until halftime.
The second started with some bad news for ThunderRidge as Macias didn’t start the second half due to an injury she suffered in the first 40 minutes.
“Our trainer knew she needed to be looked at so we got her through the half,” Smith said. “We got her off, iced her up and she took (the second half) off.”
Sierra Roth came in to replace Macias and played well through the majority of the second half. It wasn’t until the 68th minute that Megan Rumbold got the ball over Roth’s head from 35 yards out that the Golden Eagles scored again. Megan Massey added one more in the waning seconds to give Mountain Vista the 4-1 win and the league title.
“ThunderRidge is a really good team and we couldn’t look past them,” Pugh said. “I’m really proud of my teammates for pulling through and keeping a high standard and mentality against this team.”