(Dan Mohrmann)
DENVER — There has never been a girls lacrosse state championship game without the Cherry Creek Bruins. And that trend will continue in 2014.
The Bruins overcame a slow start and scored eight second half goals as they beat the Centaurus Warriors 12-11 Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins were also hoping avenge an early-season loss to the Warriors back on March 20. The Warriors were able to contain the Cherry Creek offense and hold them to just six goals that day. The start of the game looked to play out the same way as the defense limited the chances for the Bruins while the Warriors’ offense was clicking on all cylinders.
Their first possession of the game lasted over two minutes, and although they couldn’t find the net, they had several opportunities to get on the scoreboard. After nearly eight minutes of scoreless play, Andrea Kim finally got the Warriors on the board as she took advantage of a clear shooting lane.
Just over two minutes later, Katherine Burns once again found the net for Centaurus, putting the Warriors up 2-0. They continued to build on the lead with a breakaway goal almost three minutes later by Hayley Drapkin. In the blink of an eye, Centaurus had a three-goal lead and Cherry Creek found themselves shell-shocked.
“We came out a little flat and we knew it,” Bruins coach Brianne Tierney said. “They have a very poised and controlled attack and we sort of knew that what happen; that they would try to wear us down.”
Senior Colby Goettelman would be the first Bruin to find the net on the day, breaking the string of Centaurus goals. The Warriors would strike back with two goals in 26 seconds to increase their lead to 5-1. Centaurus had a chance to once again build on their lead, but a shot on their next possession went off the post and into the hands of the Bruins. On the breakaway, Caroline Perry converted on her shot, to cut the Warriors lead to three.
It was that goal that gave the Bruins some momentum as they would score two more goals and only allow one going into halftime. After leading 5-1 at one point, the Warriors went into the break grasping to a 6-4 lead.
“We needed that one push to get us some momentum to let hold on knowing we could come back,” Perry said. “We knew after that we could come back and win this game.”
The momentum that the Bruins built to end the first half continued at the start of the second. A yellow card at the end of the first half gave the Bruins a one-man advantage that they took advantage of very early. They scored 26 seconds into the half to cut the lead to one. The Warriors would briefly regain a two-goal lead, but the Bruins would continue to fight back.
At 8:47 into the second half, Cherry Creek gained their first lead of the game on a Livvy List goal. For the next 15 minutes the two teams would battle back and forth with the Bruins taking the lead two more times, only to have the Warriors tie it up. Centaurus would take an 11-10 lead with 7:25 left, but Chole DeGrasse would erase their lead just over a minute later.
“We didn’t want this to be our last game,” Perry said. “We knew we had to do it as a team we had to play up to our potential and we had to do whatever we could do.”
A defensive battle would keep each team scoreless until a minute left in regulation when Blair Sisk slammed home a shot, giving the Bruins the lead and putting them only seconds away from yet another appearance in the state championship game.
Centaurs was able to muster up one more surge, and Olivia Holmes found herself with a look at the net, but her shot would ring off the post and the ball would squirt out to mid-field as time expired giving Cherry Creek the 12-11 win.
“(I thought) it was going to overtime,” Tiereny said. “We’ve practiced a ton of overtime so if that was the case I think we were ready to go.”
The Bruins will take on Air Academy in the state championship game Wednesday.