Green Mountain boys lacrosse earns second shot against Air Academy

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain senior Beau Stratman was simply unstoppable on Friday night.

The Rams’ leading goal scorer this season had six goals in Class 4A second-round playoff at Trailblazer Stadium. No. 12-seeded Northfield had an early 3-1 lead on the second quarter, but Stratman led No. 5 Green Mountain to an eventual 7-4 victory.

Junior Zak Freedman started a 6-0 run for Green Mountain (13-3 record) scoring with 7:38 left in the second quarter. Then it was all Stratman, who scored five straight goals from late in the second quarter until midway through the fourth quarter.

“My coach (Nate Hallahan) said, ‘Beau go hero ball,’” Stratman said of his third goal that came with 8.6 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Rams’ their first lead of the game at 4-3. “I just went and took it.”

Green Mountain took control of the game after trailing for nearly the entire first half.

“We started off a little slower than we would have liked to,” Green Mountain senior goalie Connor Watts said. “We came together as a team later. We got the win. Overall we got it together in the end.”

The win sets up a second go-around against 4A Foothills rival and No. 4 Air Academy (13-3) in the state quarterfinals. The Kadets took a 10-9 overtime victory against the Rams back on April 22 at Trailblazer Stadium.

The playoff game is set for Tuesday, May 17, in Colorado Springs.

“We definitely want that one back,” Watts said of the rematch against Air Academy. “We’ll travel down there and hopefully have a good game.”

Watts and Stratman has been the centerpieces for the Rams in their solid season. Stratman hit the 70-goal mark on the season with his dominating performance against Northfield.

“We are incredibly lucky,” Hallahan said talking about Watts and Stratman. “On the defensive side of the field we probably have the best goalie in 4A with Watts. On the offensive side of the field we have an incredibly dynamic and talented Beau Stratman.”

Green Mountain will take a 4-game winning streak into the showdown against Air Academy.

“We are really excited to go down there,” Hallahan said of the rematch against the Kadets. “We know it’s really hard to beat a good team twice. We want to go down there and make it as hard on them as we can. It should be a good one.”