No. 3 D’Evelyn guts out win in 4A boys soccer showdown with Evergreen
ARVADA — It was a painful victory for D’Evelyn sophomore Wesley Tedstrom on Monday at the North Area Athletic Complex.
Tedstrom scored a pair of goals to help D’Evelyn, ranked No. 3 in this week’s CHSAANow.com Class 4A boys soccer poll, to a 3-2 victory against 4A Jeffco rival Evergreen. However, Tedstrom did it the hard way having a hand in all three of the Jaguars’ goals.
“It was pretty cool,” Tedstrom said of his two-goal game that featured him suffering a possible broken nose and taking a clearing attempt from Evergreen goalie Logan Westgard from pointblank range in the abdomen. “I did get beat up pretty bad.”
With the game tied at 2-2 with just more than 10 minutes left in regulation-time an Evergreen defender fed the ball back to Westgard with Tedstrom quickly closing in. Westgard attempted to blast the ball out of danger, but the ball hit Tedstrom in his gut and ricocheted into the net for the eventual game-winning goal in the 69th minute.
“The work really paid off there. We talk about always chasing no matter what at the goalkeeper. That’s the one time it really paid off,” D’Evelyn coach Paul Moline said. “That’s the kind of player he (Tedstrom) is. He never stops working.”
Tedstrom opened the scoring with a breakaway goal off an assist from junior Jack Draeb in the 9th minute. D’Evelyn (7-1, 3-0 in league) took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but Evergreen (5-3, 2-1) turned in on offensively to start the second half.
Junior Adriano Borsa and sophomore Adam Babb scored in the first five minutes of the second half to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
“The disappointment is we couldn’t get that third goal in that period,” Evergreen coach Ross Fowler said. “Our tails were up and (D’Evelyn) was on the back foot a little bit. If we get a third goal in maybe we come out with a different result.”
D’Evelyn tied the game in the 52nd minute on a penalty kick by Draeb that was set up by Tedstrom. The sophomore went up for a header in Evergreen’s goalie box and was fouled by Evergreen senior James Morrato to give the Jaguars the penalty kick. Tedstrom headed to the bench with a bloody nose that was possibly broken.
He was on the Jaguars’ bench for 13 minutes of action before returning and eventually scoring the game-winning goal.
“We want to keep our ranking and keep up in that top-10,” said Tedstrom, who leads the Jaguars with four goals on the season.
The win keeps D’Evelyn undefeated in conference play. The 4A Jeffco League should be a tight race this season with seven teams sporting winning records going into the heart of league play.
“Jeffco is just a nightmare this year,” Moline said. “It’s so deep. You can’t let your guard down.”
D’Evelyn returns to the pitch Friday to face Standley Lake at 4 p.m. at Lakewood Memorial Field. Evergreen will host Valor Christian 4 p.m. Friday up in the foothills at Evergreen High School.
“It’s competitive,” Fowler said of the conference. “It’s the way it should be. All the league games will be competitive.”
