Evergreen girls soccer closes regular season out strong

ARVADA — Evergreen’s girls soccer team took care of its own business Thursday night at the North Area Athletic Complex.

The Cougars cruised to a 5-1 victory over Dakota Ridge in Evergreen’s regular-season and league finale to stay atop the tight race for the Class 4A Jeffco League title. 

“We came in knowing we really had a chance to win conference this year,” Evergreen sophomore Nadia Leunig said. “It was maybe out of the picture last year.”

The Cougars finished fourth in the conference last year.

To start the night, Evergreen, Golden, Green Mountain and D’Evelyn all had one conference loss with only three days remaining in the regular season. Wins by Evergreen (9-5-1 record) against Dakota Ridge and D’Evelyn (9-4-1) over Green Mountain on Thursday allowed the Cougars and Jaguars to finish with identical 7-1 league marks.

While Green Mountain (9-2-1, 5-2) was eliminated from league title contention, Golden can force a 3-way tie if the Demons defeat Green Mountain in the league finale scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, May 3) at the NAAC.

“I’m sure the other teams feel the same way. This (4A Jeffco) is the best conference from top to bottom in 4A,” Evergreen coach Peter Jeans said. “Obviously, we have four really good teams in the conference. Then Dakota Ridge is the defending 4A state champion. To win this conference would be a huge accomplishment. We’ve done what we can do.”

If Green Mountain defeats or ties Golden, Evergreen will win the league title because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over D’Evelyn. 

“Let’s go Green Mountain,” Leuing said with a smile went asked who she would be rooting for Friday night.  

However, if Golden wins over Green Mountain there would be a 3-way tie atop the league. The league champion would be decided by the goal differential between D’Evelyn, Golden and Evergreen in those league games between the three teams.

In short, Evergreen or D’Evelyn could win the league title tomorrow despite not playing. It will all come down to the result of the showdown between Golden and Green Mountain.

No matter what happens with it comes to the league title, Evergreen is playing its best soccer of the season going 4-0-1 in its last five games after the loss to Golden.

“I do think we’ve gotten better every game,” Jeans said. “The teams are really high quality. They really test you.”

Evergreen got the scoring going against Dakota Ridge (8-6-1, 4-4) with goals two minutes apart from sophomore Gianna Weiner (8th minute) and junior Nuala Hart (10th minute). 

Dakota Ridge freshman Sydney Jussel made it a 1-goal game in the 24th minute with a hard shot that found the back of the net.

However, Leunig scored with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first half to extend the lead to 3-1. Leuning scored her second goal of the game — ninth of the season — in the 43rd minute.

“We wanted to attack and be aggressive,” Leunig said of the Cougars’ mindset in their regular-season finale. 

Senior Mallory Ellington pretty much sealed the victory with a tip-in goal in the 51st minute to give the Cougars a commanding 5-1 lead.

The Cougars were No. 16 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index before Thursday’s victory. Evergreen will likely host a first-round 4A playoff game Wednesday, May 8. 

The tournament brackets are scheduled to be released by CHSAA on Sunday, May 5. There is a good chance 4A Jeffco will have five teams — Green Mountain, Golden, Evergreen, D’Evelyn and Dakota Ridge — make the 32-team bracket. 

“I really don’t look at it. I wait until the bracket comes out on Sunday,” Jeans said of the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index. “You just take it one game at a time and (playoffs) you are always playing good teams. We’ll take what they give us and we’ll prepare really well.”