Late penalty-kick goal lifts Golden over No. 3 Green Mountain in 4A girls soccer tourney

LAKEWOOD — Golden junior Emi Beer buried a penalty kick with 1 minute, 46 seconds remaining to give the Demons the biggest upset in the second round of the Class 4A girls soccer state tournament.

No. 14-seeded Golden defeated rival and No. 3 Green Mountain 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Lakewood Memorial Field. The Demons (11-6 record) advanced to the 4A quarterfinals where they travel to Northfield High School for a 6:30 p.m. game Tuesday, May 16, against the No. 6 Nighthawks.

“I’m excited,” Beer said of the Demons heading into the quarterfinals as the lone double-digit seed remaining. “It will be interesting. I think we are good to go all the way.”

Golden senior Megan Logue was a huge reason why the rematch of the 4A Jeffco League game didn’t go overtime. Beer sent a long pass ahead to Logue who was able to run it down and then get tripped up in Green Mountain’s goalie box. 

“Megan is going to run. She is going to work so hard. That (penalty kick) was well deserved because of the hard work she did,” Golden coach Luke Burgard said. “A lot of people wouldn’t be able to get to that ball, but she did.”

The Demons were awarded a penalty kick that Beer tucked into the low right corner of the net.

“She (Beer) was the one and she stepped up and buried it,” Burgard said of Beer’s shot that got past Green Mountain junior goalie Taya Olguin in the 79th minute.

Green Mountain senior Sidney Weigel, who scored the Rams’ lone goal in the 33rd minute of the first half, put some serious pressure minutes before the Demons’ go-ahead goal.

“It got really hectic toward the end. I think we started stressing out and just beating the ball, but we were able to settle it down,” Beer said. 

Golden suffered a 3-0 loss against Green Mountain in conference play in snowy conditions at the North Area Athletic Complex on April 27. The Demons got up on the Rams early with a great run by junior Sophia Nickel for a Golden goal in the 4th minute.

“It gave us the upper-hand and I think it gave us the energy to keep going too,” Beer said of the goal in the 4th minute by Nickel. 

Weigel tied things up 1-1 late in the first half with a perfectly placed direct free kick from outside the Demons’ goalie box that sailed just out of reach of Golden freshman goalie Zoe Schroder.

There weren’t many great scoring chances in the second half until Logue drew the penalty kick in the final minutes.

“Green Mountain is absolutely a fantastic team, but on our day I believe we can beat anybody in the state,” Burgard said. “The girls showed up today and did the little things right because of that we walked away victorious.”

The Rams (13-4) had their 7-game win streak snapped and season come to an end with the loss. Green Mountain’s 13 wins was the most for the program since the 2014 season when the Rams advanced to the 4A state semifinals.

“It was awesome to get a second chance,” Beer said of the rematch in the postseason against Green Mountain. “Just to show them how we can play and not in bad weather. We are here to play against the top teams.”

If Golden can score another upset victory in the state quarterfinals, it would face the all-Jeffco quarterfinal — Evergreen vs Dakota Ridge — in the state semifinals Thursday, May 18 at Trailblazer Stadium in Lakewood.