Silver Creek crashes 4A girls soccer state semifinal party after knocking off top-seed
LAKEWOOD — A little fender bender might have delayed Silver Creek’s girls soccer team’s arrival to Lakewood Memorial Field, but it didn’t hamper the Raptors’ performance.
No. 8-seeded Silver Creek knocked off top-seed D’Evelyn thanks to a goal by junior Alexa Karsel in the 55th minute of the second half. The lone goal held up for a 1-0 victory over the Jaguars to put Silver Creek into the Class 4A state semifinals Saturday at Legacy Stadium in Aurora.
“My adrenaline was going,” Karsel said of the goal. “I saw I could be (D’Evelyn goalie Kiera Hess) on the outside. I just took a touch, cut outside and took it.”
Sophomore Annika Kassenbrock picked up an assist on the goal.
It was an adventure getting down to Lakewood Memorial for the state quarterfinal game. The start of the game was delayed for about 20 minutes because of a minor vehicle accident Silver Creek’s bus was involved with shortly after leaving the school in Longmont.
“On (Highway) 52, it was dead stopped and someone wasn’t paying attention, ran into a car and that car ran into us,” Silver Creek coach Rob Johnson said of an accident the Raptors’ bus was involved in on the way down from Longmont. “I didn’t faze us at all. We just felt a little bump.”
D’Evelyn (13-2-2 record) dominated possession though the majority of the game, but Silver Creek (16-1-1) cashed in on its best scoring chance of the night.
“It’s rare that we take care of our chances, so it was nice that we had one chance and Alexa buried it,” Johnson said. “These girls just kept working hard. That’s all you can ask for.”
Silver Creek faces the winner of No. 21 Cheyenne Mountain and No. 4 Wheat Ridge that played at Lakewood Memorial in the third game of a tripleheader of girls soccer quarterfinal action Wednesday.
The Jaguars’ hopes to get their hands on a second 4A girls soccer state title over the past three years were dashed in the shutout loss.
“I would say we were a little intimidated, but we didn’t let that get to us,” Karsel said playing against the top seed that had a handful of key players from the 2017 state championship squad. “I think we did really good.”
