More photos. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
COMMERCE CITY — The wait is over.
Columbine won its first girls soccer title Thursday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with a 3-1 win in the Class 5A state championship game over Jeffco League rival Ralston Valley. The Rebels were also able to send retiring principal Frank DeAngelis out with Columbine’s first girls’ team state championship in the school’s history.
“We drew motivation from that,” Columbine coach Brian Todd said of the Rebels’ longtime principal. “He is probably one of the better leaders of public education that Colorado has ever seen. We wanted to send him out with something special. It doesn’t get much better than this.”
Columbine trailed 1-0 at halftime, but a pair of Columbine goals three minutes apart — in the 47th and 50th minute — in the second half erased the deficit.
A long direct free kick by Columbine sophomore Kelcey Cavarra slipped through the hands of Ralston Valley goalie Renee Roemer in the 47th minute to tie the game at 1-1.
“It was pure luck. I didn’t think I had it,” said Cavarra, who scored goals in four straight playoff games this postseason. “Once it went in I think it was the turning point of the game.”
Freshman Amanda Porter gave the Rebels the lead in the 50th minute on a tough angle shot into the short side upper corner.
“I saw the ball go through and I just hit it,” Porter said. “It went straight in.”
Ralston Valley had a few chances in the final 10 minutes of the second half. Columbine goalie Sarah Luebking had a big save in the 73rd minute on a shot from Ralston Valley sophomore Alyssa Kaiser.
More photos. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
Columbine sealed the win when sophomore Tatum Barton scored her 26th goal of the season on a breakaway with 52 seconds left in the second half. The Rebels (17-3) became the first 5A Jeffco team to win a girls soccer state title since Chatfield in 2009.
“We are going to continue to build the program to get back to games like this,” Todd said of his young squad that featured several strong underclassmen. “Ralston Valley is a team that can be back here next year too. Jeffco is young. We have a great league. I’m proud of Jeffco.”
Columbine took a 1-0 victory over Ralston Valley in the conference match back on April 29 that decided the 5A Jeffco League title. Cavarra had the lone tally in the first meeting.
Ralston Valley took the upper hand Thursday night. The Mustangs grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute of the first half. The freshman combo of Sarah Bevington and Lindsay Guerrero set up the goal.
Bevington tapped the ball over to Guerrero at the top of the goalie box. Guerrero fired a shot that Luebking was able to get a hand on, but not enough. The ball just tipped of Luebking’s fingers and under the crossbar for the initial goal on Ralston Valley’s first shot on goal.
“We knew after our Pine Creek game that one goal means nothing,” Ralston Valley coach Kamee Morwood said of the halftime lead. “Columbine came out with a bit more momentum.”
The Mustangs faced a 2-0 halftime deficit to Pine Creek in the semifinals. Ralston Valley battled back to take a 3-2 victory.
“I want to be back here. This is definitely not the end of us being in the finals,” said Morwood, who guided the Mustangs to a 16-4 record this year. “There is a bright future for these girls. We are losing an awesome (senior) class of leadership, but this team has the guts. They will be back.”
Ralston Valley’s girls soccer program was also looking for its first gold trophy. It was the second state championship appearance for the program in the school’s history. The Mustangs advanced to the 4A title game in 2006, but lost in overtime to Broomfield.
It’s been more than a decade since Columbine played for a girls soccer state championship. The Rebels played in five 5A title game over an eight-season span from 1993 to 2000, but finished runner-up each season.
Having an all-Jeffco 5A title game Thursday between the No. 10-seeded Ralston Valley and No. 8-seeded Columbine was a bit of a surprise. The Rebels took down defending 5A state champion and No. 4-seeded Mountain Vista in the semifinals Saturday.
The Mustangs also had a tough postseason road. Ralston Valley defeated three higher seeds in Cherry Creek (No. 7), Rock Canyon (No. 2) and Pine Creek (No. 3) on it was to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
The 5A state championship game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but the hailstorm that pelted the home of the Colorado Rapids forced the 4A game to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday night and pushed the 5A title game to Thursday.
Mother Nature wasn’t done Thursday night. Heavy rain and lightning delayed the start of the 5A championship game by more than an hour.
“It definitely messed with our minds. It got our nerves going, but in the end I think it helped us,” Cavarra said. “We were a lot calmer today.”
Columbine girls soccer players embrace in from of the Rebels’ student section Thursday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Columbine won its first girls’ team state championship in the school’s history with a 3-1 victory over Jeffco rival Ralston Valley in the Class 5A girls soccer title game. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)