COMMERCE CITY – For the first time in program history, the Colorado Springs Christian School Lions are girls soccer champions.
With a 3-1 victory over Fountain Valley Tuesday afternoon, May 23, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the Lions stand atop the mountain of 2A teams in their first ever championship appearance.
Down 1-0 at the half, CSCS used three second half goals to run away with the title. Despite the deficit, head coach Jason Rollins knew his girls had a comeback in them.
“We just needed to play our game, I think the moment got to us a little bit,” Rollins stated. “We knew 40 minutes was a lot of time, it’s hard to hold a 1-0 lead, we just had to break the ice. It was great we scored three minutes in, that really set the tone for the second half.”
Being down and losing games was nothing new for the Lions during the 2023 season, as they came into the title game with five losses. However, all five of those losses came against teams classifications above them, including losses to a team in the 3A final (Manitou Springs) and 4A final (Lutheran).
“I built that schedule intentionally for us to be battle tested,” Rollins continued. “When we’re playing against a good team, it exposes our weaknesses, and that allowed us to continue to grow each and every game during the season. You want to peak at the right time, and I felt like we were battle tested and ready to take this game on.”
The first half was mostly a defensive battle, as neither team got a great look on goal for most of the frame. That was until the final minute of play when Fountain Valley’s Briityn Lybecker corralled a long pass from downfield and finessed it past the CSCS keeper for the icebreaking goal with 28 seconds until halftime. It was her team-leading 30th of the campaign. After the first 40 minutes of play, the Danes led 1-0.
The Lions wasted little time tying the game in the second half, as in the 43rd minute, Cristina Huerta gathered the ball in the box and dribbled around two defenders, tucking the ball away in the left corner to knot the game at 1-1. It was her 16th of the season.
About midway through the half, CSCS took over the lead as Wilna Colopy found Ella Salsbery in the box, and she tucked a shot into the bottom right corner for her team-leading 21st goal. The Lions added onto the lead four minutes later as Colopy bended a shot around the keeper and into the top right corner for her 15th goal, giving CSCS a two-goal advantage with 16 minutes to play.
With 12 minutes to play, the Danes had a golden opportunity as Lybecker had a free kick just outside the box. With a ball perfectly on net, it appeared to cross the goal line, but the ref signaled offsides and the score remained 3-1. From there, CSCS played lockdown defense and held on for the two-goal championship win.
For the Lions, this marks back-to-back championships in two different sports, as CSCS won the 3A girls basketball title back in March. Rollins, being the AD for the Lions athletic programs, was around for that run as well.
“It’s great (to have won both),” Rollins exclaimed. “Whenever you can get to this point it’s pretty cool, but to win it all and to do it with both programs, it’s a really special thing.”
Fountain Valley finished the season with a 14-3 mark, as well as their first ever appearance in a girls soccer championship game.