Air Academy beats Cherry Creek in wild girls lacrosse championship
DENVER — Air Academy, one of the premier girls lacrosse programs in Colorado, knew it would have a strong team in 2014.
“This one I was a little worried about, because we went to the semis last year and we graduated one girl,” coach Sean Harmon said of his Air Academy team possibly being over-confident this season. “I felt like we were definitely going to be preseason high ranking and I wanted to make sure that we were humbled a little bit. You have to stay hungry and we needed to work.
“I told the girls at the beginning of the year, maybe we’re a quarterfinal team or a semifinal team right now, but we have a whole lot more work to do to make sure we win May 21st.”
Kadet goalie Jaycee Davis and her talented teammates put the effort in to reach the state final. On May 21, a Wednesday, Air Academy won girls lacrosse’s state championship with a wild 11-10 victory over the Cherry Creek Bruins at Peter Barton Stadium on the campus of the University of Denver.
In a state final between two schools that have combined for the past nine state championships — Cherry Creek has reached all 17 championship games in the sport’s sanctioned history and was the defending champ — the title matchup was expected to be a frenzied encounter. It delivered throughout with furious runs by both proud programs.
Air Academy’s MacEllen McDonough, a Division I recruit who signed with Jacksonville University, put the Kadets up 1-0 on a goal 53 seconds into the game. Cherry Creek answered with three straight goals, including a nifty one by leading scorer Blair Sisk. But Air Academy responded with three-straight goals after that. Neither team could capture consistent momentum as the game was tied at five at halftime.
Bolts of lightning began to touch down in the background just as the Bruins found an early second half spark with two goals in the first 23 seconds. But just as Cherry Creek seized momentum and took a 7-5 lead, the Kadets’ twin sister senior combo of Natalie and Jessica Berg took over.
Natalie scored back-to-back goals in just over a minute, giving Air Academy the equalizer with 21 minutes remaining. Maddie Jahelka found net for the Kadets two minutes later, then Jessica Berg scored off an assist from Natalie, then Emily Trousil scored, then MacEllen McDonough, and before the Bruins knew what hit them, it was 11-7 Air Academy with 10:02 on the clock.
McDonough and the Berg sisters starred offensively, but the Bruins had one last run in them.
Cherry Creek senior attacker Olivia List, who ignited the Bruins’ offense throughout, had two goals in two minutes to cut the deficit to two with 4:56 left to play. Caroline Perry, a University of Colorado recruit, scored with 4:25 on the clock and Cherry Creek found itself only down 11-10.
That’s when Kadet junior goalie, Davis, came through just as the team needed her, preventing the Bruins from scoring in the last four and a half minutes. Davis was strong in goal in the face of enormous pressure applied by highly talented attackers: Perry, List, Sisk, and Colby Goettelman.
“I was just believing in my team, believing in myself, and hoping we could pull it off and we did,” Davis said.
Davis’ play in goal secured Air Academy’s second state championship in the past three years and third championship overall. They also won the crown in 2009.
This was Davis’ first season starting for the Kadets.
“Last year, I had some injuries and was rotating goalies throughout the whole year,” Harmon said of solidifying the goalie position in 2014. “Jaycee came preseason and she won the job. Isabel, our backup, she did fantastic as well, but I felt like Jaycee had a slight edge. Five minutes before the very first game is when I made my decision to put Jay in and we rode her the whole way.”
The goalie play Air Academy possessed in 2014 was the last ingredient needed for the Kadets to culminate the campaign with another state championship. Davis proved to the unifying piece defensively to go with a high-powered offense.
The junior goalie credited her whole team for the victory.
“We all worked together, we played together, every person got a touch in the game, and we kept moving the ball,” Davis said. “That’s what made us pull it off.”
“I’m very, very happy for these girls,” Harmon added. “These girls, there are seven seniors, I have come with them all the way. I’ve known a lot of them since youth, fourth and fifth grade, and there’s a very good core group. They’ve been playing together ever since.”
The seniors knew they needed a goalie to win on May 21, their preseason focus. On Wednesday evening, they relied on the talented Davis to secure another Air Academy state championship.
