(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — A Fountain Valley girls soccer victory over St. Mary’s is sort of like a Halley’s Comet sighting. Neither one comes around very often.
In fact, after the Danes topped the Pirates 5-2 Thursday afternoon, both Carter Gwinn and coach Byron Dacy thought it was the first time in program history that Fountain Valley had come out on top.
But longtime St. Mary’s coach Gregg Braha knew better.
“Since I’ve been coaching, that’s not true,” Braha said. “They either beat us in 2004 or 2005.”
Braha maintains that in whichever year it was that the CHSAANow.com No. 7-ranked Danes (6-1 overall, 2-0 Class 3A Region 1) last won, they went on to win the league title. And that pattern is appearing to repeat itself.
Fountain Valley controlled most of the game, jumping out to an early 2-0 thanks to two shots from 35-yards out from Gwinn, who would go on to finish with a hat trick on the day.
“I just let them rip,” Gwinn said. “I started playing forward just a few years ago and they’ve just taught me to be patient. But sometimes I just get a little too much energy and just rip it as hard as I can.”
The Pirates (6-4, 2-1) were able to cut the lead in half thanks to a penalty kick from Faith Heery. But in the 31st minute, McKenna Monk was able to get that goal back and put the Danes back ahead by two.
Early in the second half, Gwinn was able to get some great looks at a third goal, but wasn’t able to connect.
The Pirates seemed to a better job of balancing out control of the ball and even got some better looks at the Fountain Valley net. It was the second game for St. Mary’s since their star forward Scooter Ross left the team and withdrew from school on Monday.
Braha commended his girls for their ability to remain resilient on the pitch through the whole process.
“I think it’s been hard for the girls, they were a bit surprised,” Braha said. “The coaching staff is sitting here thinking ‘What do we do?’ and the girls are moving on very quickly.”
Trailing 4-1 in the second half Heery was able to score another goal to move the Pirates to within two. But a penalty in the box gave Gwinn another chance at a hat trick and she was able to connect on it.
“She’s been brilliant all year,” Dacy said. “She’s really wanting to make the most of her senior year and she’s doing that. She’s stepping up and scoring goals when we absolutely need them.”
With the win over the Pirates, the Danes are now in a position to come away with a league championship which would allow them to host when playoff time rolls around.
Their next league game will be Tuesday when they host James Irwin.
St. Mary’s will travel to Peak to Peak and Rye for a couple of non-league games before they jump back into league play when they travel to James Irwin on Arp. 28.