(Brian Miller/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — Saturday afternoon was a whirlwind for The Academy’s Alex Loera.
The senior’s game-winning goal in the second half of the Class 3A girls soccer state semifinals launched the Wildcats into the school’s first championship game appearance, in any sport. Loera didn’t have much time to celebrate that accomplishment though, because she had to rush off the field to head to her graduation.
That doesn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate what had just taken place at All-City Stadium.
“I can’t even describe it what it feels like right now. We’ve gotten here the last two years,” Loera said after the Wildcats emerged with a 1-0 victory over Kent Denver. “To be able to now say that we’re going to the finals is amazing.”
The Academy (17-1) will play Peak to Peak for the 3A championship at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. It’s a moment a long time in the making for the Wildcats, who have come up just shy in recent years.
In 2014, The Academy fell 2-1 to Kent Denver in double overtime in the quarterfinals. One year later, Jefferson Academy ended the team’s run in the state semifinals.
The Wildcats made it back to the semis last May, only to lose to Colorado Academy on penalty kicks. But with only two seniors on the roster this season, the team finally broke through.
“It’s crazy,” junior Jasmine Daily said. “I just take so much pride and I’m so happy that this is the year we can make the seniors proud.”
Loera’s goal came less than five minutes into the second half. The senior launched a high ball from 30 yards out that just tucker under the crossbar and over a leaping Kent Denver freshman goalkeeper Mika Fisher.
“I was a little off-balance when I actually shot it, so I had no idea,” said Loera, who has 41 goals on the season. “But then I saw she was off her line, so I was like ‘that’s in.’”
The Academy had to withstand a late push from the Sun Devils (12-5-1), including a huge save-and-clear in the final 90 seconds after a free kick. Junior Kristine Honmichl somehow got a hand on the ball in the middle of a scrum in front of the net, and the team’s defense cleared it from there.
“It helps having one of the best players in the state. One of her strengths is winning balls in the air,” Wildcats coach Kevin Davis said of Loera. “We always know to put her on the goal line and have a strong wall. We defended it correctly and got a little bit lucky with the touch.
“We have a goalie who it’s her first year, and we told her she was going to have to make a save or two today to keep us (in it). It kind of all came together there, and our defense stepped up and was able to clear the ball.”
Honmichl made three saves for The Academy, and caught a break in the first half when a ball that was misjudged deflected off the left post. Fisher recorded four saves.
“Overall I think it was a pretty even match. Kent Denver, they’re young,” Davis said. “I think they’re going to be pretty good over the next couple years.”
Peak to Peak 2, Jefferson Academy 1
(Brian Miller/CHSAANow.com)
A pair of perfectly-executed set pieces in the first half was all that Peak to Peak needed to punch its ticket to the 3A title game.
Rebecca Thompson and Emma Shepherd scored goals 14 minutes apart for the Pumas (15-2-1) and Peak to Peak withstood a second-half surge from the Jaguars to eliminate the top seed.
Peak to Peak advanced to the championship game for the first time since winning it all in 2013. Thompson said the foundation was laid last year, but the Pumas found a way to put it all together this spring.
“I know that was going to be my only chance. Obviously it’s my last year,” she said. “But this is definitely the best team I was going to have. That was my best chance to go, and I am so proud and so excited. It’s hard for me to form a thought right now.”
Thompson put the Pumas on top in the 11th minute, scoring off of a corner kick from teammate Alayna Mann. The corner kick was set up by that same combination after Thompson fed Mann with a cross, but Jefferson Academy freshman keeper Brooklynn Kirkpatrick deflected the junior’s shot out of bounds.
Shepherd added what turned out to be a crucial insurance goal in the 25th minute, ripping a free kick past Kirkpatrick from 34 yards out.
“We’ve been working on those a lot in practice,” Thompson said of the set pieces. “Obviously they’ve been working out really well for us.”
The Jaguars (15-2-1) got on the board a little more than a minute into the second half. Sophomore keeper Kinzie Short, who had just entered the game, came out to try and cover up a shot. The ball squirted away, and Samantha Spitz cleaned things up.
Jefferson Academy kept the pressure on down the stretch, but the Jaguars couldn’t come up with any clean opportunities.
The victory helped the Pumas erase the sting of a 5-3 regular-season loss to Jefferson Academy back in April. The challenge of emerging out of the 3A Metro League is no easy task, but Peak to Peak finished 7-1-1 in league play.
“There’s nothing like playing in the Metro League, right?” Pumas coach Joe Swanson said. “We played three non-conference and then we jumped right into it. I think Faith Christian was the first one, then we had the gauntlet of JA, CA (Colorado Academy) and Kent Denver.”