Green Mountain girls soccer gets tricky in playoff win over Pueblo West

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain senior Charlize Ellsworth picked a good night to have her second hat-trick of the season.

Ellsworth scored a trio of goals in the Rams’ 5-1 victory over No. 23-seeded Pueblo West in the opening round of the Class 4A girls soccer state tournament Wednesday night at Trailblazer Stadium.

“At first I thought this was going to be a really tough game,” Ellsworth said of the game being scoreless through the first 30 minutes. “Once we got into the groove it was really good.” 

The senior attacker now has 23 goals on the season.

Ellsworth put in goals in the 31st, 45th and 53rd minutes to put No. 10 Green Mountain up 3-0 on the Cyclones midway through the second half. Two of the goals were from long feeds that Ellsworth ran up on and then beat Pueblo West junior goalie Peyton Odell.

“Tactically that is what we were looking for,” Ellsworth said of connecting on long passes with Pueblo West playing a flat defensive back line. “We wanted that quick switch and it worked really well.”

Green Mountain coach Bari Abuhadema was a little frustrated with a lot of the offside calls while the Rams were trying to attack Pueblo West (8-7-1 record) with their speed up top.

“They had the flat line the whole time,” Abuhadema said. “The long ball was there. The through ball was there all the time.”

Freshman Kaelyn Hamilton scored the fourth goal for the Rams. However, Hamilton went out with an apparent collarbone injury in the final minutes of the game. 

“I know we won the game, but unfortunately we lost a key player,” Abuhadema said. “Somebody has to step up. To be honest, it’s a big loss. This kid is a young star, but she will be back.”

Hamilton leads the Rams with double-digit assists this season to go along with five goals from her midfield position. 

“She is a very skilled player, but we have a lot of depth,” Ellsworth said of Hamilton. “We are very confident in our players. I think we’ll be OK.”

Pueblo West sophomore Elliott Norick spoiled the shutout bid with a Cyclone goal in the 57th minute to make it a 4-1 game. Green Mountain freshman Charleigh Cagle did get the goal back for the Rams scoring in the 78th minute to make the final score 5-1.

“We have a lot of momentum going in and we are really confident in our game,” Ellsworth said. 

Green Mountain (12-2-2) will face the winner of No. 26 Severance/No. 7 Cheyenne Mountain on Saturday, May 9.