Grandview’s Mandi Duggan (right) is one of 67 Division I girls soccer recruits playing for their high school teams this spring. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
On the way to its first state championship since 2008, Grandview’s girls soccer team enjoyed one of those rare runs a year ago where everything aligns just right.
The Wolves dropped only one game in 2015 and allowed only five goals in 20 contests. In the postseason, Grandview shut out all five opponents and capped things off with a 2-0 victory over Broomfield in the Class 5A state title game.
What may be even scarier for the rest of the 5A field this spring: The Wolves lost only two starters from that squad.
“I think they’re way excited, but I know they’re nervous,” Grandview coach Tari Wood said of her team. “They’ve got a lot to prove again to defend the state championship.”
Grandview enters the upcoming season having to replace starting goalkeeper Maddie Lesjak, who posted 13 shutouts a year ago, and the team’s second-leading goal scorer in Bailey Cook. Lesjak is now at Northern Iowa, and Cook graduated at semester to join her San Diego State teammates early.
Cook was one of three Grandview players to sign with an NCAA Division I program for next season, along with Mandi Duggan (Kansas) and Maddy Germann (Murray State). In all, 67 players from Colorado will play D-I girls soccer in the fall, and 133 overall will play college soccer at some level, according to CHSAANow.com’s recruiting database.
That figure means that once again, girls soccer has produced the most Division I recruits of any sport in Colorado in 2016.
“It’s always exciting when athletes have the opportunity to move on and play at higher levels,” said Mountain Vista coach Theresa Echtermeyer, who has six players who signed to play college soccer. Four of those are going to D-I programs.
“I think women’s soccer in general is flourishing and growing and it’s fantastic.”
It isn’t just the 2016 class that has decided on its immediate future. Recruiting is competitive in any sport, and college programs are getting a jump on verbal commitments from underclassmen as well. Grandview’s Nicole Lyubenko (Alabama), Taylor Parker (Denver) and Jessica Hixson (New Mexico or Utah) are among 12 juniors who have already given verbal commitments or will soon. Six members of the 2018 class, including Wolves sophomore Natalie Beckman (Denver), have done the same.
“That’s been the whole purpose of (Elite Clubs National League) program. They get those kids out and get them seen,” Wood said. “I think for a long time Colorado was not recognized as a soccer hotbed at all – it was just a place where it happened.
“I think now colleges are really starting to recognize there is really good soccer in Colorado. A lot of college coaches are saying if we don’t sign kids early, we lose them.”
But that’s the future – the present is the spring season, which gets underway March 10. Grandview (5A), Cheyenne Mountain (4A), Colorado Academy (3A) and Vail Mountain (2A) are the defending champions.
“Last year we were so young, it wasn’t very hard to convince them to work hard,” Wood said. “Now that they’re a little bit older and little bit more experienced, we’ve got to keep convincing them to work harder because we’ve got to work harder this time. We’re not going to surprise any teams. We’re going to have a giant target on our back from the get-go.”
Lyubenko and Parker were first-team all-state selections last spring, and Duggan made the second team. Losing Lesjak is obviously big, especially in the leadership department, but Grandview’s defense was brilliant in front of her as well. Two of the starting four were freshmen a year ago.
Mountain Vista, which has won a pair of titles over the previous five seasons, was the No. 1 seed a year ago before falling to Broomfield in the state semifinals. Echtermeyer returns plenty of experience on the backline that includes three seniors in Peyton Joseph, Megan Rumbold and Giselle Sawaged – all of whom have signed to play in college. The team also returns its two keepers from a year ago.
The Golden Eagles will have to replace leading scorer Megan Massey, who graduated.
Reigning 5A player of the year (and national player of the year) Mallory Pugh, a senior who is signed with UCLA, has been playing for the U.S. Women’s National Team during Olympic qualifying.
Golden High School graduate Lindsey Horan has also been playing for the USWNT.
Broomfield returns three first-team all-state players from its runner-up squad in Makena Bambei, Michaela Stark and Zoe Zinis.
Girls soccer preview
Defending State Champions:
- 5A: Grandview
- 4A: Cheyenne Mountain
- 3A: Colorado Academy
- 2A: Vail Mountain
Important dates:
- Regular season begins: March 10
- Postseason begins: May 10
- State championship games: May 24 (3A and 2A), May 25 (5A and 4A) at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Returning All-State players:
- 5A: Makena Bambei, Sr., Broomfield (1st team); Kristin Barbour, Sr., Monarch (2nd team); Tatum Barton, Sr., Columbine (1st team); Kelcey Cavarra, Sr., Columbine (2nd team); Mandi Duggan, Sr., Grandview (2nd team); Reece Hummel, Sr., Pine Creek (2nd team); Alyssa Kaiser, Sr., Ralston Valley (2nd team); Caeley Lordemann, Sr., Greeley West (2nd team); Jayne Lydiatt, Jr., Pine Creek (2nd team); Nicole Lyubenko, Jr., Grandview (1st team); Julie Mackin, Sr., Castle View (2nd team); Jade Odom, Jr., Pine Creek (2nd team); Taylor Parker, Jr., Grandview (1st team); Alley Schlegel, Soph., Chaparral (2nd team); Michaela Stark, Sr., Broomfield (1st team); Zoe Zinis, Sr., Broomfield (1st team).
- 4A: Brianna Alger, Jr., Lewis-Palmer (1st team); Emily Cope, Sr., Battle Mountain (2nd team); Katie Davis, Sr., Pueblo Centennial (2nd team); Lauren Jones, Jr., Cheyenne Mountain (1st team); Sarah Lyons, Sr., Lewis-Palmer (1st team); Aleesa Muir, Sr., The Classical Academy (1st team); Alexandra Nillen, Jr., Wheat Ridge (1st team); Zoe Peterson, Sr., Evergreen (1st team); Sophia Weiner, Jr., Evergreen (1st team); Margaret Zimmerman, Soph., Windsor (2nd team).
- 3A: Annalys Hanna, Jr., Middle Park (2nd team); Logan Hays, Sr., Estes Park (2nd team); Alexis Loera, Jr., The Academy (1st team); McKenna Monk, Jr., Fountain Valley; Audrey Payne, Sr., Kent Denver (1st team); Scooter Ross, Soph., St. Mary’s (2nd team).
- 2A: Alyssa Clayton, Jr., Rye (HM); Liv Cramer, Soph., Dawson School (1st team); Emma Hall, Soph., Vail Mountain (HM); Tess Johnson, Soph., Vail Mountain (1st team); Addison Kanon, Sr., Cornerstone Christian (HM); Brie Karlstrum, Jr., Evangelical Christian (HM); Maggie Kirkpatrick, Jr., Evangelical Christian (1st team); Miranda Kortenhoeven, Soph., Denver Christian (1st team); April Mann, Jr., Evangelical Christian (HM); Olivia Manula, Soph., Vail Mountain (HM); Samantha O’Brien, Soph., Clear Creek (1st team).