(Dan Mohrmann)
COLORADO SPRINGS – Maleia Lark’s goal with 7:31 left in the first half proved to be the game-winner as No. 3 St. Mary’s beat Coal Ridge 4-1 in the 3A girls soccer playoffs Wednesday night.
But it was Jordan Curley’s shot from about 25 yards out that broke the spirit of the Titans and allowed the Pirates to play ball control offense in the second half as they advanced to Saturday’s semifinals.
“We’ve had some fast starts, but in the last three or four games against quality opponents we’ve had slow starts where we’ve had to counter attack,” St. Mary’s coach Gregg Braha. “I thought for a while it was a little sluggish, we were trying to possess the ball.”
Neither team was able to solidify control early in the match. The Pirates were able to control possession more, but it was Coal Ridge that was creating more opportunities to get on the scoreboard first.
The best chance came when midfielder Paige Ryan turned a steal into a fast break. She passed the ball up to forward Amanda Wenzel who was able to get back to Ryan who was crashing the net. Ryan’s shot was successfully defended by St. Mary’s keeper, Tess Thomas.
After that, neither offense appeared to find a rhythm until the 31st minute when the Pirates were finally able to get into the Titan’s zone and crowd the goal box. Michelle Moure’ took advantage of a rebound that fell right in front of her and drilled home a shot to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
“Honestly, it was huge; it was at that point in the game where you had to score just to get some momentum going,” Moure’ said. “It definitely picked up or speed because we got a quick goal from Maleia (shortly) after.”
Less than two minutes after Moure’ broke the 0-0 tie, the Pirates found the goal again as Kylie Cleary found Lark with a crossing pass, allowing her to successfully put the ball past Titans’ keeper Brooke Esgar. With a 2-0 lead, the Pirates appeared to be in cruise control to move on to the state semifinals.
“I told the girls not to react, but to respond and there’s a difference there,” Titans’ coach Micah Herron said. “We got one quick back and for about eight to 10 minutes was our window to close on it.”
The Titans would finally get on the board with some fancy footwork from Ryan. With Coal Ridge on a breakaway Ryan was on the receiving end of a pass that she merely redirected ever so slightly, leaving Thomas off-balance and allowing the ball to get into the net. With just under three and a half minutes left in the first half, Coal Ridge had cut the Pirates lead in half.
But the momentum wouldn’t last long. With time running out in the first half the ball had rolled out of bounds with possession going to the Pirates. Curley threw the ball in and instantly received it back. Without hesitation she took aim at the goal and lofted the ball over Esgar’s head to score with 12.8 seconds left regaining a two-goal lead for St. Mary’s and putting the proverbial nail into the Titans’ coffin.
“I’m going to be honest, I was going for a cross,” Curley said. “I kind of saw the open far-post of the goal and decided to try for it and it went in.”
Emily Loof added one more goal for the Pirates with just under 10 seconds remaining to get the St. Mary’s crowd going and give them the 4-1 win and a berth in the semis. Should they win Saturday, they will play in the 3A state championship game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Tuesday.