ARVADA — It was a little shaky at times, but Golden’s girls soccer team improved to 2-0 in on the season Tuesday night at the North Area Athletic Complex.
The Demons — No. 9 in the latest CHSAANow.com Class 4A rankings — took a 3-1 victory over a scrappy Pomona squad. However, Golden coach Larry Harding knows there is plenty of room for improvement.
“That was not a well-played game,” Harding said. “Don’t sugarcoat this thing. It wasn’t pretty.”
Golden took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by junior Melanie Darr in the 7th minute, but the Demons couldn’t get another goal past Pomona sophomore goalie Teagan Anna in the first half. Pomona evened things up 1-1 with a goal from freshman Emily Abeyta in the 24th minute.
The game was tied 1-1 at halftime.
Golden senior Mia Howe scored on a penalty kick in the 49th minute to give the Demons a 2-1 lead, but Golden failed to find the back of the net until the final few minutes of the game.
The Demons could breath a little easier when a free kick from sophomore Jada Goodman was placed perfectly to senior Anna Kennedy. The senior midfielder was able to head the ball into the back of the net with just over a minute to play in regulation-time.
“Throughout the game I wanted to get the opportunity to hit it into the goal,” Kennedy said. “I finally lined it up right and was ready for it.”
Golden held on to the 2-goal victory. It was the second win in back-to-back nights. The Demons took a 2-1 victory over Discovery Canyon 24 hours earlier at NAAC.
“We definitely need to work on things,” Kennedy said. “I think in the second half it got a little better, but we weren’t playing like we can.”
The Demons weren’t able to get any scrimmages in due to the weather heading into the back-to-back games. Even practice have been held inside Golden gym because of the snowstorms last week.
“Once we get some actual practices in we’ll be more put together,” Kennedy said. “Once we build some team chemistry I think we’ll be good.”
Golden has one more game this week before spring break. The Demons travel to Erie on Thursday, March 17. Golden dives into the always competitive 4A Jeffco League in the last week of March.
“It’s going to be a tough league,” Harding said.
Pomona hosts Northglenn at NAAC on Friday, March 18, before heading into spring break. Playing a tight game against Golden was a good sign for the Panthers what went 1-9 during the shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.