Wheat Ridge’s Emily Abo (7) and Valor’s Cori Dyke (23) chase down a ball Tuesday night at Lakewood Memorial Field. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Valor Christian’s girls soccer team showed Tuesday night it knows how to respond.
The Eagles, No. 1 in the CHSAANow.com Class 4A girls soccer rankings, suffered their first loss last Saturday getting shutout 1-0 by defending 5A state champion Grandview. It was the first game Valor had been held scoreless all season.
Valor (11-1, 7-0 in 4A Jeffco) answered Tuesday night at Lakewood Memorial Field scoring seven goals in the span of under 20 minutes to defeated No. 4 Wheat Ridge, 7-3.
“As you saw today, we have so much talent,” said Valor senior Tess Boade, who had a pair of goals for the Eagles. “When we make a sub the level doesn’t drop. I’m so excited for playoffs.”
Valor was also excited to win its first girls or boys soccer conference title in the history of the school.
“It’s huge,” Boade said. “We’ll get to hang a banner in the gym. That will be awesome.”
Wheat Ridge (12-2, 6-1) was attempting to defend its league title, but couldn’t hold off the Eagles’ scoring attack once it got rolling.
Wheat Ridge junior Rylie Pachello scored 25 seconds into the game Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Wheat Ridge actually scored 25 seconds into the game when junior Rylie Pachello put one past Valor goalie Mackenzie Egan. It wasn’t until the 29th minute did the Eagles actually get their first goal.
“We certainly didn’t script it that way,” Valor coach Brian Shultz said of Wheat Ridge scoring in the first minute of play. “I’m really proud of the girls composure to bounce back from that.”
Boade and sophomore Cori Dyke scored 3 minutes apart to give Valor a 2-1 lead. Wheat Ridge senior Alex Nillen answered with a rocketed direct free kick that hit the cross bar and landed across the goal line in the 33rd minute to ties thing up at 2-2.
“It was big to get that goal early. Really the first 25 minutes we settled in and played them back-and-forth. I’m proud of how we tied it up at 2-2,” Wheat Ridge coach Dan Watkins said. “Unfortunately once they get one you don’t want it to turn into waves. They are so dangerous moving forward.”
Valor poured in four goals to in the closing minutes of the first half and into the first minutes of the second half to take a commanding 6-2 lead. Aeva Graber, Brianna Johnson, Boade and Paige Kula scored on Wheat Ridge sophomore goalie Logan Duford.
Wheat Ridge had only given up nine goals total in its previous 13 games.
Valor’s Paige Kula, left, scored a pair of goals for the Eagles against Wheat Ridge. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“It didn’t go our way tonight and part of that is do to their talent,” Watkins said.
Wheat Ridge was shorthanded without the services of one of its top defenders in Corina Wing. The senior received a red card during the Farmers’ wild 6-3 victory over Green Mountain on April 26. A 1-game suspension came with Wing’s red card so she had to sit out Tuesday’s 4A Jeffco title game. She will be back in the line-up for Wheat Ridge’s regular-season finale Friday, May 5.
“I think it’s about moving forward,” Watkins said. “We have a change to put ourselves in a situation to finish 13-2. We’ve had a great season. We are tested and ready for the playoffs.”
Valor and Wheat Ridge both have some non-league games to tune-up for the 4A state tournament that begins next week. The 32-team state bracket is scheduled to be released by CHSAA on Sunday, May 7, with first-round games being played Wednesday, May 10.
Valor, last year’s 4A state runner-up, hosts Rampart on Thursday, May 4, before getting a good challenge Friday, May 5, at home against No. 3 The Classical Academy.
The first conference title was definitely something special for the Eagles.
“We have been talking about that for three months,” Shultz said of Valor’s quest for its soccer league title. “We’ve had some good teams in the past, but that is how strong this league is. We are super excited and actually humbled to win league.”
Wheat Ridge takes on Northridge at 5 p.m. Friday, May 5, at Lakewood Memorial Field to wrap up the Farmers’ regular season.
The 4A Jeffco League should have a number of teams get high seeds for the state tournament. Valor, Wheat Ridge, Evergreen and D’Evelyn were all in the top-10 of the RPI rankings heading into Tuesday’s games.
Valor and Wheat Ridge will turn their attention to the playoffs next week. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)