Green Mountain girls soccer exorcises 2nd round demons

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain girls soccer put an end to a curse Saturday afternoon at Lakewood Memorial Field.

The Rams had been eliminated from the Class 4A state tournament in the second round by Jeffco rivals Evergreen and Golden the previous two seasons. No. 13-seeded Green Mountain turned the tables with a 1-0 shutout victory against conference rival Dakota Ridge on Saturday.

“It’s good. Evergreen defeated us my freshman year and Golden last year,” Green Mountain junior Alyssa Hamilton said of not allowing a familiar foe to end the Rams’ season for a third straight season. “We finally got past the second round.”

Hamilton put in the lone goal of the game. The junior slipped her 25th goal of the season past Dakota Ridge freshman goalie Riley Mulberry in the 9th minute.

“I think the (shot) right before that I missed. I panicked a little bit because it was right there,” Hamilton said. “I knew which way she (Mulberry) was going to go. I hoped I was doing the right thing as the right moment. It ended up working out for us.”

Green Mountain sophomore Charlize Ellsworth fed the ball up to Hamilton, who was able to weave through a defender and keep the ball on the ground as Mulberry came up to try to cut off the angle for a shot.

“She (Hamilton) was wise,” Green Mountain coach Bari Abuhadema said of the lone goal. “She knew when she had. She was patient. She just poked it in.”

Dakota Ridge junior Ava Arnold (16 goals on the season) provided the Eagles’ best scoring chance, but Green Mountain senior goalie Taya Olguin came up with a diving save in the 54th minute.

“Ava’s hit was really good,” Abuhadema said of the Eagles’ best shot on goal. “Ava is a strong player. We had her marked, but she is still capable of getting off shots.”

Olguin has back-to-back shutout victories in the state tournament following a 5-4 loss to Golden in the Rams’ regular-season finale May 3.

“Against Golden, they were really hard shots that were hard to save,” Olguin said of giving up five goals against the Demons. “Our team was amazing. We all talked afterwards and made sure we were OK. It was OK that we lost. We tried our absolute hardest in that game.”

Green Mountain has bounced back nicely with victories this week in the postseason. The Rams blanked No. 20 Northridge 6-0 in their playoff opener Wednesday at Lakewood Memorial Field before getting the 1-0 win Saturday.

“That gave us a lot of motivation to just go at it,” Hamilton said of the loss to Golden. “We want to be the team that surprises everyone.”

The Rams (11-3-1 record) ended up taking fourth in the highly competitive 4A Jeffco conference where five teams advance to the round of 16 played Saturday. 

Dakota Ridge (8-7-1) — defending 4A state champions — didn’t go down without a fight this postseason despite being a No. 29 seed. Dakota Ridge upset No. 4 Durango in the opening round before being eliminated Saturday.

Green Mountain joins league rivals No. 7 Golden, No. 14 Evergreen and No. 17 D’Evelyn in the quarterfinals scheduled for Tuesday, May 14. Golden took a 2-1 victory over Skyline at the North Area Athletic Complex. Evergreen went on the road and upset No. 3 Windsor, while D’Evelyn knocked out No. 1 Montrose 3-2 in overtime.

Half of the eight 4A quarterfinal teams are Jeffco squads, but none will go head-to-head versus another Jeffco team in the next round.

“It will be nice to play someone outside the league now,” Hamilton said of facing Lutheran on Tuesday, May 14. 

No. 2 Northfield, No. 9 Denver North, No. 12 Lutheran and No. 27 Air Academy round out the remainder of the quarterfinalists.