More photos. (Ray Chen/arrayphoto.com)
LITTLETON — It was a game befitting what are considered to be the two best Class 5A soccer teams in the state.
True to form, at least this time, No. 1 prevailed as Mountain Vista overcame a stiff Rock Canyon defense to defeat the Jaguars 3-1 and secure the top spot in the Continental League.
For much of the first half, it was No. 2 Rock Canyon playing as if it had something to prove. The Jaguars’ offensive push kept the ball on the Mountain Vista side of the field for better than three quarters of the half.
More photos. (Ray Chen/arrayphoto.com)
That was until Megan Massey took a pass on the right side and tapped it with her right foot from 10 yards out, just sneaking it inside the right post to put the Golden Eagles on the board.
They nearly added another with 30 seconds remaining in the half on a shot that hit the right post.
What started out as a test of defenses turned into an offensive attack by both teams in the second half The Jaguars again took the early initiative, but it didn’t last long. The Golden Eagles’ Mallory Pugh sent a pass on front of the Jaguars’ goal. The shot attempt was stopped but Pugh was there for the tap-in rebound with her team-leading eighth goal of the season and a 2-0 Mountain Vista lead less than four minutes into the half.
It was only the third goal given up by Rock Canyon all season.
“I feel like our mentality was the thing,” Pugh said of the difference in the Golden Eagles’ play in the second half. But that didn’t mean the Jaguars were going to give up without a fight.
A short time later, Rock Canyon’s Kacie Young beat a pair of defenders and slipped a shot to the left side of the goal, again cutting the Jaguars’ deficit to one. It was Young’s team-high seventh goal of the season.
But Pugh, a sophomore midfielder, sealed the deal with less than six minutes remaining on a nifty spin move to score on a shot inside the left post.
More photos. (Ray Chen/arrayphoto.com)
She gave credit to her opponents.
“I think they were playing really good soccer,” she said of the Golden Eagles’ inability to solve the Rock Canyon defense early.
“Our backs had to figure out what their striker was doing,” Mountain Vista coach Theresa Echtermeyer said. “It took us a little but to sort it out.”
While Mountain Vista and Rock Canyon can probably expect to see each other again in the playoffs (the Golden Eagles beat the Jaguars in last year’s state title game, the third straight year the teams have squared off in the playoffs), both teams have a lot of soccer to play to get to that point.
But give the early nod to the defending state champions.
More photos. (Ray Chen/arrayphoto.com)