Golden ends scoreless drought in league opener

ARVADA — It had been more than three weeks and over four games since Golden’s boys soccer team had found the back of the net.

It took less than 2 minutes Wednesday night for the Demons to finally end their scoring drought. Senior Flynn Halsor’s tough angle shot sailed over the reach of Dakota Ridge goalie Tyler Nguyen in the 2nd minute at the North Area Athletic Complex.

“I can’t tell you honestly that was a shot,” Halsor said of his quick goal. “It was a bit of a fluke, but we’ll take it.”

Golden went on to score four first-half goals on the way to take a 6-0 victory over Dakota Ridge. It was the Class 4A Jeffco League opener for both the Demons (3-4-1, 1-0 in 4A Jeffco) and Eagles (4-3, 0-1).

“Going into today it was about how many chances can we create, “ Halsor said of the mindset against Dakota Ridge. “The goals would come. We didn’t have the best conversion rate, but we had our chances in front. That was our main focus.”

The Demons had numerous scoring chances in the first half. Dakota Ridge had to play a man down from the 10th minute on after senior Alan Torres was given a red card for impeding a Demon forward on a clear breakaway attempt.

“I think we are getting opportunities in all our games, but even with some tonight we aren’t finishing,” Golden coach Jamie Scarcliff said. “We finished a great six tonight, but we left a lot still open.”

Golden poured in three goals in the final 8 minutes of the first half. Juniors Milo Messina, Levi Rhen and sophomore Adam Ziegenfuss all scored in the first half to push the Demons’ lead to 4-0. The score could have been much worse for the Eagles, but Nguyen had a handful of big saves as the Demons peppered him throughout the first half.

“Their goalkeeper (Nguyen) had a great game. He did a phenomenal job,” Scarcliff said of the Eagles’ senior goalie. “You have to give him a lot of credit.”

 

The momentum stayed with the Demons in the second half. Freshman Mateo Perez scored in the 49th minute to make it a 5-0 advantage. Halsor finished off the scoring firing a shot on the short side between the near post and Nguyen in the 69th minute.

“It has been awhile,” Halsor said of the scoreless stretch for the Demons. “It was good to rack up a couple and get the confidence back.”

Golden needed a victory having not won since Aug. 25 against Columbine. The Demons had a tough non-league schedule and hadn’t won in their previous four games.

“It’s good to get a lot of the kids some confidence,” Scarcliff said of going deep into her bench in the shutout victory. “We’ve had a tough non-league schedule so some of the those kids haven’t seen a lot of minutes or very few.”

Golden continues league play next week on Tuesday, Sept. 26, back at NAAC. The Demons face Littleton (4-3, 1-0). The Lions started conference play Wednesday with a 2-0 shutout win over Green Mountain at Lakewood Memorial Field.

“Our main goal is to win league. I think we have a real good chance at that,” Halsor said. “Wheat Ridge is definitely up there. They are one of our biggest rivals and they are doing well. We want to confident, but not cocky.”

Dakota Ridge came in suffering back-to-back losses after a 4-0-0 start to the season. The Eagles took a 7-1 home loss to Rangeview on Monday before starting conference play. 

Dakota Ridge has a non-league game at Dakota Ridge High School at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22, versus Greeley Central before getting back into league play next week.