(Andre Lyseight/CHSAANow.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Legacy showed that postseason seeding doesn’t always and any team has a shot to win on Thursday night.
The No. 25 Lightening upset No. 8 ThunderRidge in a 5-0 win at Shea Stadium. With the win, Legacy advances to the second round of the Class 5A state tournament.
“I think my team played outstanding,” said Legacy coach Tony Romano. “I am extremely proud of them. They played an unbelievable performance against a very good team. So, I’m proud of all of them, every single last one of them.”
Legacy got off to a surprising 3-0 lead in just the first 15 minutes of the game. The goal looked wide open to the Lightning players, as five different players were able to score a goal.
“I think two minutes in, Luca (Falagrady) makes a huge save and that changes the complexity of the game,” Romano said. “Those guys could be all pumped up if they get a early goal like that. Obviously getting three goals early, that’s hard for any team in world to comeback from.”
The first goal came from senior midfielder Trent Headrick that was set up from a corner kick that occurred just three minutes into the game.
The next goal came from junior forward Fernando Yuste with nice header on the net, leaving defenders behind him and putting his team up 2-0 with 30 minutes left in the first half.
Shortly after, another goal came from team captain and midfielder Riley Johnson with a long 25-yard kick giving his team a comfortable 3-0 lead.
To add more fuel to the fire, sophomore midfielder Stephen Goth was able to get the ball in the net putting his team up 4-0. The fifth and final goal of the game came late and as a result of senior forward Matteo Chavez-Vitale collecting a rebound and connecting on a chance for an easy goal giving his team a 5-0 lead.
ThunderRidge was not able to recover from Legacy’s strong start in the first half. The Grizzlies had chances to score but couldn’t connect on any goals thanks in large part to outstanding play from Falagrady.
The best chance for ThunderRidge came when Grizzlies senior forward Brian Mantey had a shot hit the crossbar and bounce high off the goal.
“I think we played outstanding, one of the best games we played all year,” Falagrady said. “Nerves is the one the one word I could describe it. It was just one game I knew we had to come out and knew we could and we did.”
In the second half, the Grizzlies had to apply pressure on the Lightning if they wanted to make a comeback. ThunderRidge was able to control the ball majority of second half but Falagrady prevented anything from getting into the goal for the remainder of the game.
ThunderRidge coach Chris Smith had a great season with his boys, but his team came short and couldn’t get anything go their way this game.
“I think we played well,” Smith said. “We stumbled out the gates a little bit and they got some early goals, but I didn’t think we played poorly. Legacy is a fantastic team coming from a fantastic league, as do we. But it felt like everything dropped for them and nothing dropped for us.”
Legacy will try carrying their momentum to next Wednesday when they face No. 9 Boulder in the second round of the playoffs.