5A girls lacrosse: Colorado Academy, Regis Jesuit advance to state championship game

Despite lightning and weather delays, the Class 5A girls lacrosse state semifinals were completed on Tuesday night at Englewood High School’s Randy Penn Stadium. In the first game of the night, No. 1 Colorado Academy took down No. 4 Cherry Creek, and in the second, No. 6 Regis Jesuit upset No. 2 Valor Christian to advance to its first-ever state championship game.

Defending state champion Colorado Academy will play Regis Jesuit in the state championship game at University of Denver’s Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

(1) Colorado Academy 17, (4) Cherry Creek 7 

ENGLEWOOD – One of the Colorado prep sports’ greatest streaks continued Tuesday evening, when the Colorado Academy girls lacrosse team earned its now accustomed spot in the Class 5A state championship game.

It is absolutely nothing new for the Mustangs, who won an incredible 30th consecutive postseason contest dating back to the 2014 season and now have a chance to win a state championship for an eighth consecutive time after a 17-7 win over fourth-seeded Cherry Creek in a game twice delayed by lightning at Englewood High School.

“Pressure is such a privilege and I’m so grateful to carry the CA name because it means so much in the lacrosse community,” said junior midfield Charlotte Corkins, who was one of eight different players to score goals as Colorado Academy improved to 18-0.

“The best thing CA has is that everybody buys into our culture and our team,” she added. “I think it’s just great that we have this tradition and that people have such pride to play for the team.”

That culture and tradition helped the beat go on despite the arrival of a new coach, as Sonorah Hunter took over for former coach Laura Sandblom prior to the season.

Hunter put her own stamp on how the program is run, but she credited the mentality and coachable nature of the returning players as how the Mustangs have again reached the cusp of another title.

“I think it is really easy to get caught up with where the team has been in the past, but since the beginning of the season, we really have focused on the details and how we play together as a group,” Hunter said. “We have a lot of amazing, talented individuals on this team and to be able to shape that and watch them buy into that and get so much better since the beginning of the season has been great to see.”

To get back to the state championship game, Colorado Academy had to go through a Cherry Creek team it beat by a 16-2 count back on April 6.

As expected with both teams having a full regular season and playoff games under their belts, it was a different result, at least for the first 20 minutes.

The Bruins (14-4) — who were seeking their first trip to a state championship game since 2019 — were undaunted in the early going, as they took a lead at 2-1 and after trailing for a bit, forged a 5-5 tie with 8:47 left in the opening half.

Colorado Academy got three key goals in the final 3 minutes, 52 seconds, of the half — including back-to-back scores by Corkins — to take a three-goal edge into halftime. It was particularly meaningful to contribute in a key moment for Corkins, who was on the sidelines watching last season with a torn ACL.

“This is a real, cool full circle moment for me; a year ago I was on crutches and I can remember standing over there on the sideline,” said Corkins, who finished with four goals in the first half. “It feels really good to come back and make an impact for my team.”

The game broke for the first lightning delay with 17:24 remaining in the second half and by that time, Colorado Academy had added goals by juniors Zoe Martin, Skylar May, Alex May and Estella Gellar to up the advantage to 12-5. Another goal on the other side of the break by senior Anna Colpack made it a streak of eight straight scores for the Mustangs before Cherry Creek stopped the run with a goal by senior Becca Zerr just before the second delay.

The remaining time elapsed quickly as the Mustangs reached the 10-goal barrier to invoke the running clock and then could prepare for yet another trip to the state championship game.

The distribution of offense in the semifinal showed how dangerous Colorado Academy can be, as Martin — who came into the game with a staggering 73 goals — had to score just twice, while several others shouldered the scoring load.

“We have so many great goal scorers, so anybody can have their best game on any given day,” said Corkins, one of five players with 29 or more goals coming into the game. “I think that’s what makes us so good, there are so many offensive threats.”

By knocking out Cherry Creek, Colorado Academy has a chance to creep even closer to the Bruins’ lead in the all-time state championship category since the sport debuted in Colorado in 2000. 

Cherry Creek has won 10 state championships (the last came in 2013), while the Mustangs now have a chance to win their ninth.

Colorado Academy will be playing a team in the final that has never won a title before and Hunter expects to get their best effort.

“All of these girls are going through so much this week with finals and everything,” Hunter said. “We beat them during the regular season, so we know we can win, but we know they are going to be super hungry. They are definitely going to be coming for us.”

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(6) Regis Jesuit 11, (2) Valor Christian 7

ENGLEWOOD – In sharp contrast to its next opponent, the Regis Jesuit girls lacrosse team doesn’t know what it is like to play for a state championship.

The Raiders will know that feeling for the first time on Friday when they take the field at the University of Denver to go against Colorado Academy, which will be after its eighth consecutive Class 5A state championship. Regis Jesuit, meanwhile, will have a chance to win its first thanks to an 11-7 semifinal victory over Valor Christian late Tuesday night at Englewood High School.

Coach Crysti Foote’s sixth-seeded Regis Jesuit team continued its trend of fast starts and avoided the second half struggles it had in a few games this year to finally get over the hurdles of the semifinals, which had stopped it in both 2019 and 2021. In the process, the Raiders avenged a loss by the identical 11-7 score early in the season to the second-seeded Eagles, who were in search of their third straight trip to the state championship game.

“Our goal this season was to get to the state championship, but I didn’t know we hadn’t been there before,” said Foote, who is in her second season as head coach. “It was just something we were working towards. I’m super proud of this team.”

Senior Ava Rogala and sophomore Maddy Jokerst scored four goals apiece for Regis Jesuit (12-4), which also got two scores from junior Phoebe Rogala and another from senior Carly Kennedy as it set up a championship contest against top-seeded Colorado Academy, a 17-7 winner over No. 4 Cherry Creek in the previous semifinal.

In a game delayed by a couple of hours because of two lightning delays in the previous game, the Raiders came out strong and built a lead of four goals at 5-1.

Valor Christian answered with three straight goals to get within one when senior Kaley Kakac converted a free shot opportunity.
Regis Jesuit got the momentum back with Ava Rogala’s third goal of the opening half followed by Phoebe Rogala’s first tally, which came with just nine seconds left on the clock.

“As a team with a history of not coming out the strongest in the second half, we left that first half with passion, with energy and with hope,” Phoebe Rogala said.

The Raiders never really wavered in the second half, although consecutive goals by speedy Valor Christian junior Eliza Osburn tightened the game up in the opening five minutes of the half.

Phoebe and Ava Rogala again had consecutive goals to restore a four-goal edge and from there, freshman goalie Rayn Parker made a few key saves and the Regis Jesuit defense played aggressive and physical as it limited the chances for Valor Christian in the remainder of the half.

A point-blank stop by Parker on Kakac inside the final four minutes essentially sealed the victory.

Regis Jesuit will get another chance to play Colorado Academy, which it lost to 12-8 in the regular season finale May 6.

The Raiders believe the Mustangs are “beatable” and look forward to the challenge of playing a team that will be heavily favored.

“CA is an amazing team, but we’ve played a lot of great teams this year to prepare for this moment,” Foote said. “I think we’re going to go watch video, prepare and be ready to go again.”