Bear Creek senior Kaitlyn Chavira (10) breaks into open space Tuesday at Lakewood Memorial Field. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Before spring break next week Bear Creek’s girls soccer team might be familiar with nearly every single blade of grass at Lakewood Memorial Field.
The Bears (3-2 record) will have likely played six games at the classic grass field at 10th and Wadsworth Blvd. over the span of 15 days. It would be seven games at LMF, but Monday’s non-league game against Prairie View had to be postponed due to the snowstorm that hit the area Sunday night.
“It’s a field we definitely want to get used to, keep scoring goals and be consistent,” Bear Creek senior captain Kaitlyn Chavira said after Tuesday’s 5-0 shutout victory for the Bears over Mesa Ridge (0-4).
Bear Creek’s Brianna Mendias, left, and Mesa Ridge’s Destiny Button chase after a loose ball. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Chavira scored a pair of goals in Bear Creek’s 4-goal first half. The senior and a handful of Bears’ starters took a seat on the bench in the second half as second-year Bear Creek coach Owen Plyler gave a lot of playing time to some of his bench players.
“I liked the result,” Plyler said. “We went with a reserve-based team in the second half. I thought my starters did a really good job making the game look beautiful. We wanted to captivate things that will work against stronger teams we’ll see really soon.”
Sophomore Brianna Mendias started the scoring at LMF. Mendias chipped in a shot under the cross bar 50 seconds into the game. Chavira scored two minutes later and sophomore Taryn O’Brien scored midway through the first half to push the Bears’ lead to 3-0.
Chavira beat Mesa Ridge goalie Rebeckah Madden in the 26th minute to make the score 4-0. The senior leads the team with five goals on the season, but knows once Class 5A Jeffco League play begins the competition will get tougher.
“Our goals is just keep playing as a team and be confident,” Chavira said looking ahead to conference play. “We need to be consistent on what we do. We need to move it up the field and score more goals.”
Bear Creek’s Taryn O’Brien (13) attempt to settle a ball to her feet. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Sophomore Alyssa Applegate scored the lone goal in the second half with a breakaway in the 34th minute. Bear Creek goalie Delaney Allington got the shutout victory in net for the Bears.
It was the first shutout victory of the season for Bear Creek, which helped one of the main goals Plyler has placed on his team.
“We are trying to improve our goal-differential from last season,” Plyler said. “We want to pick up a few more league wins and see if we are a potentially playoff worthy this year.”
Bear Creek was outscored 44-18 last year during the 2017 season that ended with a 4-10-1 overall record and 1-6 in 5A Jeffco. The Bears has just two conference wins over the past three seasons.
“We have to work our way up the ladder in the (Jeffco 5A) league,” Plyler said. “We know if we compete with the teams in our league we can compete with anybody.”
The Bears return to their home away from home — Lakewood Memorial Field — to face an always competitive Wheat Ridge (3-1) squad at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 22.
“Wheat Ridge is going to be a good test for us,” Chavira said.
Bear Creek scored a 5-0 victory over Mesa Ridge on Tuesday at Lakewood Memorial Field. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)