LAKEWOOD — Wheat Ridge started and ended with scoring flurries Tuesday night at Lakewood Memorial Field.
The Farmers (1-1 record) got a pair of first-half goals in the opening 12 minutes by senior Acacia Seeling. Senior teammate Taylor Watkins finished out the 4-1 victory over Niwot — No. 9 in CHSAANow.com‘s Class 4A girls soccer rankings — with goals from long range in the 65th and 78th minutes.
“You get an early goal and the confidence comes,” Wheat Ridge coach Dan Watkins said of Seeling’s goal in the 3rd minute. “I think we settled in and played really well the rest of the first half. The start means a lot at the beginning of the year.”
Seeling chased down the loose ball as Niwot junior goalie Sami Sessa scrambled to try to get in position to defend the goal. Seeling eventually got a foot on the ball to put the Farmers up 1-0 on Niwot (1-2).
“It was honestly surprising a little bit,” Seeling said of her early goal. “It was just a follow through. It’s really important to push through and run through the ball.”
Seeling struck again in the 11th minute with a nice shot that beat Sessa again for a 2-0 lead. It was a great start for the Farmers who dropped their season opener 5-0 to Lutheran on March 10 at Lakewood Memorial Field.
“It wasn’t what we wanted and not what we expected,” Taylor Watkins said of the shutout loss last week. “I think we came out today a lot better than we did against Lutheran.”
Niwot did come out better in the second half against the Farmers. Niwot freshman Heather Humphrey put a shot past Wheat Ridge goalie Olivia Darrow in the 65th minute to cut Wheat Ridge’s lead in half.
However, the Farmers were quick to respond with the daughter of Wheat Ridge’s head coach scoring seconds after Darrow’s goal.
“It was just perfect. Acacia played me the best ball I could have asked for. It was right to my feet and wasn’t bouncing. She made me look really good,” Taylor said. “We felt a lull when we let (Niwot’s) goal in, but as soon as we got that goal back there was higher intensity. We got that momentum back.”
Wheat Ridge controlled possession for most of the final 15 minutes and Taylor added her second goal with another laser into the back of the net from distance.
“When the opportunity comes she can hit it,” Coach Watkins said of his daughter drilling home a pair of long shots into the back of the net. “Niwot came out strong in the second half. (Niwot coach Steve Dimit) does a great job and they put some pressure on up to make it 2-1. For us to respond the way that we did and for Taylor to get (goal) lifted everyone back up. We settled back down and finished off the game in the proper way.”
Wheat Ridge has one more match before Spring Break. The Farmers are scheduled to host George Washington at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 16, back at Lakewood Memorial Field.
“The deal is we need to get better every day,” Coach Watkins said of the Spring Break coming up next week. “We need to get better tomorrow and play well on Thursday.”
No. 4 Evergreen (1-1) is the favorite to defend its 4A Jeffco League title, but the Farmers with their dozen seniors should be in the mix this spring.
“We really want to finish strong,” Seeling said of the mindset of the seniors. “It is big being our final year. We have all been on a team for so long that we have that energy and connection together.”