Field hockey roundup: Cherry Creek, Colorado Academy set to play in final
DENVER — Livvy List wasn’t even sure it counted, the goal that would send her team to the field hockey final.
But it did, and was the difference for third-seeded Cherry Creek in a 1-0 win over No. 2 Kent Denver in the semifinals at All-City Stadium on Wednesday night.(Bracket)
“My teammate passed it into me and then I one-timed it and it was kind of high up,” said List, a senior. “I was kind of surprised it made it in. I didn’t know if it was going to count because it was so high up. But I’m happy it did.”
The lone score came with 16:27 remaining in the first half. Cherry Creek’s defense stifled Kent the rest of the way, and the Bruins’ ability to control possession limited chances for the Sun Devils.
“We were definitely hungry for the ball,” Cherry Creek coach Ashley Thompson said. “Any 50-50 ball, I told the girls that it had to be ours. Any loose ball had to be received by a blue uniform.”
During a timeout after her goal, List said, “We just decided that we were going to let no goals in whatsoever, go as hard as we could — it’s only 30 minutes of our lives — just go as hard as we can. And it happened.”
Kent Denver did have a fantastic chance to tie the game with just over eight minutes remaining, but Cherry Creek goalkeeper Casie Hilyard made an outstanding save on a one-on-one opportunity, then kicked the rebound out, as well.
“Considering she just put pads on three months — both of our goalies — I think she did an excellent job,” Thompson said. “We started with two new goalies this year and they had never put pads on. They are here for their team and they’ve learned a ton and worked very hard. Hopefully they’ll keep learning until the end.”
The win avenged an earlier 3-1 loss to Kent Denver just two weeks ago. The two teams also tied 1-1 on Sept. 17.
“It is literally the best feeling ever,” List said. “Honestly, I’d rather lose in the season and tie in the season and then win when it matters. I could not be happier right now.”
“I think it made us that much more hungry,” Thompson said of the earlier games. “We did not want to lose, having been beaten by them. But we also learned from the technical mistakes that we had made when we played them before. We watched game tape. We tried to capitalize on playing a very clean defensive game, which we haven’t always done, and we tried to exploit their weaknesses. It worked.”
(1) Colorado Academy 7, (4) Palmer Ridge 2. Palmer Ridge had a swift response after surrendering a goal in the opening minutes. But so did Colorado Academy.
And, when Wednesday’s semifinal was over, it seemed as if Colorado Academy never stopped responding. The top-seeded Mustangs rolled to a 7-2 win over No. 4 Palmer Ridge.
Colorado Academy’s Madeline Webster scored just 2:05 into the game, and though Palmer Ridge’s Jessica Berg tied things at 1 six minutes later, it didn’t shake the Mustangs.
“The first goal really gave us confidence, and because (the tying goal) was so early on, we knew that we could get more goals,” said junior Sterre Van Ede.
In fact, it was Van Ede’s rocket off a corner which gave Colorado Academy a 2-1 advantage and lead for good with 16:04 to play in the first half. She added her second tally, a near-replica off another corner, in the second half which made it 4-1.
“Their goalie is really good,” Van Ede said, “and we just decided to hit the ball as hard as possible.”
Webster and Henley Hall also had two goals for Colorado Academy. Isabelle Chandler also scored for the Mustangs.
Daelynn Demello scored Palmer Ridge’s other goal on a penalty stroke with 16:37 to play in the game.
It was the third time Colorado Academy had beaten Palmer Ridge this season, following a 7-0 win on Sept. 7 and a 2-1 decision just two weeks ago.
“I think it’s always hard to beat a team three times, because you never know how a team’s going to respond for the third time,” Colorado Academy coach Daan Polders said. “They played the way we were expecting them to play. We were prepared for that.”
“We had already beat them twice,” Van Ede said, “why not a third time?”
Colorado Academy has now won 23 games in a row, and is unbeaten (32-0-2) over its past 34. The Mustangs have not lost since the 2011 final, to Kent Denver.
Colorado Academy beat Cherry Creek 3-1 on Sept. 25.
