2A Girls Soccer: Rakers’ Golden Goal Secures Flatirons Academy First Title

COMMERCE CITY – The Flatirons Academy girls soccer program has captured its first-ever 2A Girls Soccer State Championship.

In a matchup of two teams making their state title match debut on Wednesday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the top-seeded Bison (16-1-1) won 2-1 in double overtime over No. 7 Buena Vista (14-4) to etch their names in the Colorado high school record books.

“What it means to me is that all the athletes over the last 11 years that I’ve been coaching, this is for them as well,” Bison head coach Amy Downey said. “Our program was built by each one of these players who came every single year when we only had 12 players on the roster 11 years ago. They came hard, they pushed hard every single day. The work ethic that they’ve built over the years, it’s all them and then we get to capitalize on that this year.”

Buena Vista’s Mae Blazer opened the scoring with a goal in the 32nd minute. The sophomore’s score was the lone goal in the first half and the Demons led 1-0 going into halftime.

In the 57th minute, Flatirons Academy senior Annabelle Rakers scored her 23rd goal of the season to tie the contest. The two teams played to a stalemate following the equalizer and the match went into overtime still tied at 1-1.

“For both of us to be our first time here, we all wanted to milk it for all it’s worth, right?” Downey said. “But yeah, it was very tense and very small, small things can make a big difference.”

After one scoreless overtime and nearly a scoreless second, the match appeared destined for penalty kicks until Rakers scored on an assist from teammate Abby Downey with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the second overtime. The junior’s 108th-minute goal – a goal that will likely go down in history as the program’s most momentous score – clinched the sudden-death victory.

“We work a lot in practice on being there to finish for our teammates,” Rakers said, who was named the Sportswomen of Colorado Soccer Player of the Game at the end of the match. “So, it’s just the mental aspect of knowing that my teammates got me and I have to have their back too.”

The Bison scored 15 goals in four games and allowed just four goals throughout the postseason.

Buena Vista allowed just six goals in the postseason.