5A girls lacrosse: Colorado Academy wins seventh-straight championship

DENVER – The Colorado Academy girls lacrosse dynasty rolls on.

For the seventh-consecutive time, the No. 1 seeded Mustangs are girls lacrosse champions, defeating No. 2 Valor Christian in the 2022 5A championship game, 13-9, Sunday evening at Peter Barton Stadium on the campus of the University of Denver.

“This one feels amazing, I’m not going to lie,” Colorado Academy head coach Laura Sandbloom stated. “This one has been the toughest seasons yet. We’ve been challenged by our opponents and by lots of different things going on in these kids’ lives and my life. This one just feels particularly sweet.”

For the five seniors on the roster, the title means they will leave high school without experiencing anything other than success in the final game of the season.

“There’s nothing more than you could wish for,” Colorado Academy senior Maya Kendall, stated. “Capping off my senior year with something like this, it’s just unbelievable. It feels like I helped raise some of these girls and watched them grow, and with the guidance of Coach Laura, helping to mold our skills into something team-first, there’s something special about the legacy us seniors are leaving here at CA.”

This title had a bit of a different feel to it, however, as not only are the seniors moving on after the conclusion of the season, but so is longtime CA coach Sandbloom, who will be stepping down as the season comes to a close to move closer to family.

“I think the future for CA lacrosse is so bright,” Sandbloom added. “My goal this season was to not only set our team up for success, but to put Colorado lacrosse on the map, and I hope we’ve done that the last seven championships. I hope myself and (previous head coach) Steph Sanders have lifted everyone up, not just ourselves.”

“Coach Laura said to us before the game, she’s proud of us no matter what,” Kendall said. “She’s built something here that has elevated the entire game of lacrosse in Colorado. She’s changed the landscape of lacrosse in the state and across the nation. I’m really sad to see her go because I want everyone else to be coached by her, but I’m happy she’s moving on to bigger and better things.”

Leading the goal scoring efforts in the game were the CA duo of junior Anna Colpack and sophomore Vivian Leuthold, who each tallied a trio of goals. CA sophomore Zoe Martin and freshman Addy Smith also tallied a pair.

For Valor, who finished the season with their second-consecutive runner-up finish, they were led on offense by the trio of junior Kaley Kakac, sophomore Eliza Osburn, and freshman Amanda Stevens, who each scored a pair of goals.

The Mustangs got the scoring started early with a pair of quick goals to take a 2-0 lead, Valor answered with one at the 20 minute mark to keep it close early. The Eagles went on to tie it up, shorthanded, at the 14:33 mark on a goal from Stevens.

Shortly thereafter, Valor got another yellow card to go two players down, and the Mustangs capitalized with a goal from Kendall to retake the lead with 14 minutes to play in the first half. About four minutes later, Leuthold netted her second of the game, putting the CA team back up by two. The lead went to three shortly thereafter on a free shot from Colpack.

Valor got a player up later in the first half and capitalized with a goal from Reagan Digby to keep the deficit close. The Mustangs closed out the first half on a two-goal run, with goals from Leuthold, her third, and Skylar May, to give the Mustangs their largest lead into the half, 7-3.

The Eagles wasted little time in the second half, scoring a goal on a Rachel Pallo free shot with just 33 seconds off the clock to make it 7-4. The two teams then traded goals to keep it a three goal game.

After a defensive battle over the next chunk of time, CA got the lead back to four, 9-5, on a goal from Smith at the 17:25 mark. Five minutes later, Martin netted her second goal to increase the lead to double, 10-5.

The two teams then traded two goals apiece to keep the Valor deficit at five, 12-7, before back-to-back goals from Kakac made it 12-8 with 7:30 to play. After a quick timeout, the Mustangs regrouped and got a crucial goal to stop the streak on a goal from Colpack to put CA back ahead by five with just under five minutes to play.

Valor looked like it was on the verge of making another late game comeback, as they appeared to score a goal that would get them to three down with three minutes to play, but the goal was subsequently disallowed on a stick check to keep the Mustangs up by four. From there they melted out the clock to hang on to the four goal victory.

“I think our composure and game management was the difference there at the end,” Sandbloom added. “Our girls have been pushed in so many big games and we knew Valor was going to make a push at the end. Top to bottom we have a hard-working group of girls and I’m just so proud of them.”