Green Mountain girls lacrosse dominates Denver South in season opener

LAKEWOOD — It was a historic girls lacrosse game Thursday, March 7, to open the spring season. 

For the first time in Jeffco Stadium’s 65-year history, the flagship stadium for Jeffco Public Schools hosted a lacrosse game. Green Mountain grabbed a 17-5 victory over Denver South in what was a Class 4A state quarterfinal rematch from last season.

“The ball defintely rolls different on grass than on turf,” Green Mountain coach Maddi Ossello said about adjusting to playing on Jeffco Stadium’s grass field this spring. “This is beautiful stadium and I’m actually much more surprised how flat the grass (field) is.”

It was also a history making night for Green Mountain junior Kara Harris. The senior midfielder scored her 100th career goal during the second quarter. 

“Honestly, it’s been on my mind since last season,” Harris said of hitting the century mark. “I thought I was going to get it in our last game last year. I have really been looking forward to it.”

Harris had a pair of goals in the Rams’ 10-9 Class 4A state semifinal loss to Castle View last season. Through her first two seasons, Harris had 97 goals and 39 assists to go along with helping Green Mountain win the 4A state title her freshman year in 2022. 

If the junior continues this scoring pace she could very well have 200 goals by the end of her high school career.

Harris finished the night with seven goals to lead the way for the Rams. Fellow junior Rome Villani had five goals. Sophomore Kya Cooper added four goals and sophomore Kaitlyn Knudsen added the final goal for the Rams who ended the game on a 13-1 run.

“The offense had great momentum coming down the field,” Ossello said of the 9-0 run after the game was tied 4-4 midway through the second quarter. “They did a great job reading the defense and finding the open girl.”

Ossello returns to the helm of the Rams’ girls lacrosse program that has back-to-back Final 4 appearances in the 4A state tournament.

“I missed coaching the girls,” Ossello said about returning as the head coach after serving as an assistant after Green Mountain captured the 4A state title in 2022. “It is a lot of working being a head coach. It isn’t for the faint of heart. I missed running practices and coaching the girls. That is my favorite part. That is why I came back.”

Sophomore Kaelyn McNeily takes over the goaltending duties for the Rams with the graduation of both of the Rams’ net-minders — Gretchen Hoffman and Gina Meyer — from last year.

“I feel so, so good,” Ossello said of the opening-season win. “We have a very new team this year. We have some experienced girls, but quite a few new girls. To have a win like this with the girls we have, I’m so proud.”

Green Mountain (1-0 record) will be back at Jeffco Stadium at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, to face Fairview. It will be another good test for the Rams as the Knights were a 5A state quarterfinal team last season.

“It is really early to say, but I think we can get into the playoffs and go pretty far,” Harris said. “Everyone kind of counted us out last year, but we made it to the semifinals. I think we have a pretty good shot of going far this year.”