On Wednesday night the CHSAA Girls Soccer 4A and 5A championship games were scheduled to be played at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Unlike the boys games last fall where the 3A, 4A, and 5A were scheduled all in one day, they broke the 3 levels up over two days, which was a smart idea. The boys were not able to get all three games done in one day due to a blizzard, and with yesterdays double overtime, it would have made for a long, long day.
Broomfield High School is relatively close to me, but kind of out of my zone. For the regular season, I kind of pointed a new MaxPreps shooter towards them, since he lives in that area, which left me to keep my focus on the Arvada area, but, I was glad to see that a team close to me in the State Championship. One drawback for me and this blog though is that Broomfield, when they uploaded their rosters to MaxPreps, they did not include the numbers, so I do not know who is who on the Broomfield team.
So, I did not set up my remote for this game, and at one point a defender for Cheyenne Mountain went into the net and would have been looking right at my camera if I would have set it up. Dang it. Oh well, live and learn. Probably if I set it up, she would not have gone into the net.
The lighting was a bit better than the day before, with some clouds evening out the light on the field. But, after getting here last summer, I learned that thunderstorms can roll in quick. So I was a bit worried.
The first half was not too exciting. Not a lot of chances for either team in the first 40 minutes of play (Colorado High Schools use 40 minute halves kept on the scoreboard clock instead of the standard 45 minute halves kept by the main official). The girls went into the locker room at halftime tied 0-0.
The shot above has got to be one of my favorite shots of the three games I shot over two days. Any time you can get a player airborne, with the ball, that is great. The only thing that would have made this better for me is if she would have the ball on her foot.
It did not take Cheyenne Mountain too long in the second half to get things started. Two minutes into the second Hannah Gerdin, Cheyenne Mountain’s leading scorer nailed a 23 yard left footer to put the Indians up by 1 goal.
But it was not over. Cheyenne Mountain shut Broomfield down. Anytime the Eagles got going down the field, the Indian defense stopped them cold. Any shot that Broomfield had, was not any closer than 18 yards and was either off the mark or stopped by the Cheyenne Mountain goalkeeper.
Then, in the 75th minute, Cheyenne Mountain put a nail in the coffin taking a 2-0 lead off of a beautiful corner kick score. As the clock ticked down, the Indians student section went nuts.
After the game, I kept my eye open for the Gatorade shower for the coach that never came. I pulled back during the official pose with the trophy shot, and then when I turned around, Cheyenne Mountain senior players posed right in front of me with the trophy…could not pass that up.
Congratulations to the Cheyenne Mountain Indians on their 4A State Championship. To view and purchase more photos from this game, please visit MaxPreps.
