Cheyenne Mountian weathers hail storm, wins second straight 4A girls soccer title
COMMERCE CITY — Even a powerful storm that unloaded a few inches of hail onto the playing field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park couldn’t deny Cheyenne Mountain’s girls soccer team a sweet repeat.
The Indians weathered the storm, a two-hour delay and a determined Broomfield squad on their way to a second consecutive Class 4A state championship. Sara Walters scored less than six minutes into the game and a stingy Cheyenne Mountain defense kept the Eagles off the board for a 2-0 victory Wednesday night.
Cheyenne Mountain (18-0-2) also defeated Broomfield by the same margin a year ago and notched its fifth-consecutive postseason shutout for the team’s fifth title in the past 17 years.
“It feels amazing. It feels amazing to be able to get this opportunity again and prove ourselves again,” Cheyenne Mountain junior goalkeeper Hunter Peifer said. “Some people made excuses that we lost some big seniors, but we came together as a team and filled those spots.”
There was some question of whether or not the teams would even get a chance to play Wednesday. The storm and a power outage at the stadium pushed the start back, but the grounds crew was able to clear the field and get the game underway.
The 5A state championship between Ralston Valley and Columbine was postponed until 5 p.m. on Thursday.
“It definitely built up the anticipation, but we kept our minds in the game the entire time,” Walters said. “We were ready for this. We’ve been waiting for this. We knew this was our game.”
Walters broke the ice in the sixth minute of play, capitalizing on a breakdown and punching the ball into the net.
“Amanda Burke in the back had won an amazing tackle and launched it up the field, over the defenders,” Walters said. “I ran onto it and just tapped it past the goalie. I couldn’t have done it without my team at all.”
Eagles coach Jim Davidson said the quick score took a bit out of his squad.
“We just got caught on our heels a little bit in the first 10 minutes,” Davidson said. “I thought Cheyenne Mountain started on the front foot and obviously we can’t make the kind of defensive mistake that we made there. It’s hard to play from behind right away.”
Broomfield (16-2-1) had a few chances to notch the equalizer, but a combination of skill and luck went in Cheyenne Mountain’s favor. With two minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the first half, a Kerri Marquardt direct kick after a foul was pushed up and over the net by Peifer.
Then less than 10 minutes into the second half, Eagles senior Katie Forsee broke free and made a charge on Peifer. The keeper just got enough of Forsee’s shot to deflect the ball off the post.
“I looked up and I knew I couldn’t come out,” Peifer said. “Luckily I got a couple fingers on it and then the post helped me out. Live and die by the post, right? That thing’s going to be my best friend.”
The Indians prevented Broomfield from putting another shot on goal the rest of the way.
“We created chances, and a team like Cheyenne Mountain — who defends so well — those chances are probably going to be few and far between,” Davidson said. “You’ve really got to take advantage of it.”
Cheyenne Mountain senior Michelle Sandoval added an insurance goal with 1:49 to go. From there, the team’s fans began to celebrate.
“We knew we had a target on our backs from the beginning,” Walters said. “But we knew what we could do as a group and we knew that if we played how we could as a team, we would be unstoppable.”
The Indians ran their shutout streak to six games and only allowed six goals all season. Broomfield had outscored its opponents 24-1 in the playoffs but Cheyenne Mountain was up to the task when it mattered most.
“It’s the most exceptional team I’ve coached. It’s hard that it happened to this group of seniors, especially two years in a row,” Davidson said. “But Cheyenne Mountain has just a really deep program and fantastic athletes. I thought their athleticism won the day a little bit today.”
