Lewis-Palmer won the 4A girls soccer title on Wednesday. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
COMMERCE CITY — Entering Wednesday’s Class 4A girls soccer state title game, there was only one thing on Lewis-Palmer’s mind: unfinished business.
The Rangers lost last year’s title game, falling to Cheyenne Mountain in penalty kicks. They were determined to not come away empty-handed again. They topped Valor Christian 1-0 in a game filled with scoring opportunities, aggressive play and emotion.
“Last year, we were definitely disappointed with the second (place finish),” junior forward Brianna Alger said. “The year we came out, were changing our mistakes, going out hard all 80 minutes and playing our game.”
And by doing so, they captured gold.
Though it was far from easy. Neither team was getting very many looks early and even from the first kick, it seemed like legitimate scoring chances were going to be few and far between.
The Rangers would strike pay dirt in the 18th minute as Alger got the ball to Annica Fletemeyer at the top of the goalie box and had a clean look at the net.
The shot was to Valor keeper Alexandra Daws’ right side and proved to be just out of reach, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
“I didn’t want to miss it, that’s what was going through my mind,” Fletemeyer said. “It was a great ball by Brianna. I didn’t want to miss it because I didn’t want to let my team down. It was just such a rushing feeling of emotion, so I’m just really glad I could put it away.”
More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
And then the pressure started sinking in. With a 1-0 lead, the prospect of giving it up and losing momentum is something that can easily creep in to the minds of the players as well as the coaches.
“You’re always nervous as a coach, 1-0 is nothing to a team like Valor Christian,” Rangers coach Joe Martin said. “That lead, we knew we needed another one.”
And there were a few times that they almost got it. On two separate occasions, Lewis-Palmer had great looks at the net, but couldn’t convert on either one. One shot went off the post and the Alger had the other, but her shot went straight into Daws.
“I kept thinking that if they got one of those free kicks that my one shot that went right to the goalie would’ve saved us,” she said. “We still pulled it out and I am so proud of my team.”
The title for Lewis-Palmer is the first girls soccer championship for the school since 1996. That was the Rangers’ third title in a span of four years. It is the fourth girls title for the program. Before the game, with last year’s loss to Cheyenne Mountain in mind, Martin took the time to tell his girls exactly what it would take to complete their title run.
“If they want this, if they want to prove something, fight for what you want,” he said. “We had firm belief that they would come out and they would fight hard.”
And they did. After 80 minutes of play Wednesday night, they no longer had unfinished business to worry about.