Denver East has joined this week’s field hockey’s ranking.
The Angels, 1-1 to start the year, beat then-No. 5 Grandview 4-0 last week.
Colorado Academy remained in the No. 1 spot this week. The Mustangs have won 28 games in a row and are unbeaten over their past 39 games (37-0-2). The unbeaten streak dates to 2011.
The ranking, voted upon by coaches, is the official poll of the Association. Rankings are released each Monday.
Colorado Academy enters 2014 riding a 24-game winning streak. (CHSAA file photo)
Colorado Academy heads into the approaching field hockey season with a past championship title only months behind, and hopeful of a repeat ahead.
"Our team has a huge connection on and off the field. It leads to our success. I absolutely think we can win state again this year," said returning all-stater and 2013 player of the year, Sterre Van Ede.
The Mustangs haven’t lost a game since their 2011 season, a span of 35 games (33-0-2). That includes a current 24-game winning streak which dates to the 2012 season and comprises the past two championships.
"Both Cherry Creek and Palmer (Ridge) have athletic girls who run very fast," Van Ede said. "And Kent (Denver) is always strong skillfully when we play them."
In fact, those three teams — along with Colorado Academy — comprise the top four teams in CHSAANow.com’s preseason ranking released Monday. The Mustangs are No. 1.
Daan Polders, the Netherlands native who coached the Mustangs to their past two championships, will not return for the 2014 season. Instead, Australian Veronica Scott will take over the squad.
Scott, who has played professional field hockey in Belgium for seven seasons and coached youth overseas, came to the United States two seasons ago and began coaching at Wake Forest. This will be her first season with a high school team.
"When I came here, I was impressed with the U.S. field hockey scene," Scott said, "but I realized that we needed good coaches at the high school level. Many athletes are arriving at college with a lack of fundamentals.
"I’m excited to see what potential there is on this team with Stere as a bonus, and everyone bringing something to the table."
Scott’s coaching style will be similar to Polders, as both bring international field hockey experience to Colorado Academy.
"I don’t think our team will go under a drastic change, though every coach is different," Van Ede said.
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Field hockey preview
Defending champion: Colorado Academy
Runner-up: Cherry Creek
Returning All-State players: Akiko Mitchell, Sr, Mountain Vista (1st); Julia Murphy, Sr, Colorado Academy (1st); Claire Stemper, Jr, Regis Jesuit (1st); Fiona Sullivan, Sr, Denver East (1st); Sterre Van Ede, Sr, Colorado Academy (1st).
Regular season begins: August 21
Playoffs begin: October 20
Championship: October 25 at All-City Stadium (Denver)
The Mustangs have also appeared in three-consecutive title games. So perhaps it comes as no surprise that they headed CHSAANow.com’s preseason ranking Monday. They received three of the five first-place votes.
Kent Denver, which owns nine of the sport’s 17 championships through history, received the other two first-place votes and is second.
Cherry Creek is No. 3, Palmer Ridge is No. 4 and Regis Jesuit rounds out preseason poll at No. 5.
The ranking, voted upon by coaches, is the official poll of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be released each Monday.
Colorado Academy’s Sterre Van Ede received the most votes from coaches during that process, and, as a result, has been selected as the player of the year.
Scroll down to see the entire team.
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All-state field hockey
Player of the year: Sterre Van Ede, Colorado Academy
Colorado Academy celebrates its field hockey title with coach Daan Polders. (Jordan Morey)
DENVER — Colorado Academy coach Daan Polders had one message for his girls going into the 2013 field hockey state championship: “Leave your heart on the field.”
On Monday, Colorado Academy won its second consecutive field hockey state championship at a frigid All-City Stadium following a 2-0 win over Cherry Creek.
The Mustangs finished the 2013 season a perfect 17-0 — the first time in school history — have now won 24 straight games, and are a combined record of 33-0-2 since they lost in the state championship to Kent Denver in 2011.
(Jordan Morey)
“We built off of the success of last year,” said Polders, who has now won a championship in both of his years coaching at the school. “We had an extraordinarily good season last year especially for me being a first year coach — I didn’t know what to expect.”
Monday, Colorado Academy got off to a quick start when junior Henley Hall snuck a shot past Casey Hillyard from about three yards with 23:20 left in the first half. The offensive end was dominated by Colorado Academy in the first half. Cherry Creek had their hands full with Mandy Weeks and Hall creating multiple scoring chances.
Cherry Creek made some adjustments offensively, and came out striking in the beginning of the second half. Senior Quin Egan started as goalie in the second half for Cherry Creek, but wasn’t able to hold back Colorado Academy’s forwards.
Senior Colorado Academy captain Julia Murphy tallied a goal with 13 minutes left in the second half with a high shot to the top right corner from just outside the goalie’s box. Then, Colorado Academy was able to hold off Cherry Creek the remainder of the game with ball possession.
Hall turned up her game coming into the state tournament. In the semifinals, she scored two goals en route to her team beating Palmer Ridge 7-2.
Colorado Academy beat Cherry Creek 3-1 in their regular season meeting on Sept. 25.
Cherry Creek upset No. 2 Kent Denver in the semifinals to reach the state championship.
Polders has been instrumental in the growth of the sport at Colorado Academy. The JV field hockey team also went undefeated this year.
“We’ve built up a really good program, the sport has grown at (Colorado Academy),” Hall said. “The entire program has become really good because of Daan. He’s a really good coach.”
Colorado Academy players hoist the championship trophy. (Jordan Morey)
DENVER — Livvy List wasn’t even sure it counted, the goal that would send her team to the field hockey final.
But it did, and was the difference for third-seeded Cherry Creek in a 1-0 win over No. 2 Kent Denver in the semifinals at All-City Stadium on Wednesday night.(Bracket)
Livvy List
“My teammate passed it into me and then I one-timed it and it was kind of high up,” said List, a senior. “I was kind of surprised it made it in. I didn’t know if it was going to count because it was so high up. But I’m happy it did.”
The lone score came with 16:27 remaining in the first half. Cherry Creek’s defense stifled Kent the rest of the way, and the Bruins’ ability to control possession limited chances for the Sun Devils.
“We were definitely hungry for the ball,” Cherry Creek coach Ashley Thompson said. “Any 50-50 ball, I told the girls that it had to be ours. Any loose ball had to be received by a blue uniform.”
During a timeout after her goal, List said, “We just decided that we were going to let no goals in whatsoever, go as hard as we could — it’s only 30 minutes of our lives — just go as hard as we can. And it happened.”
Kent Denver did have a fantastic chance to tie the game with just over eight minutes remaining, but Cherry Creek goalkeeper Casie Hilyard made an outstanding save on a one-on-one opportunity, then kicked the rebound out, as well.
“Considering she just put pads on three months — both of our goalies — I think she did an excellent job,” Thompson said. “We started with two new goalies this year and they had never put pads on. They are here for their team and they’ve learned a ton and worked very hard. Hopefully they’ll keep learning until the end.”
The win avenged an earlier 3-1 loss to Kent Denver just two weeks ago. The two teams also tied 1-1 on Sept. 17.
“It is literally the best feeling ever,” List said. “Honestly, I’d rather lose in the season and tie in the season and then win when it matters. I could not be happier right now.”
“I think it made us that much more hungry,” Thompson said of the earlier games. “We did not want to lose, having been beaten by them. But we also learned from the technical mistakes that we had made when we played them before. We watched game tape. We tried to capitalize on playing a very clean defensive game, which we haven’t always done, and we tried to exploit their weaknesses. It worked.”
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(1) Colorado Academy 7, (4) Palmer Ridge 2. Palmer Ridge had a swift response after surrendering a goal in the opening minutes. But so did Colorado Academy.
And, when Wednesday’s semifinal was over, it seemed as if Colorado Academy never stopped responding. The top-seeded Mustangs rolled to a 7-2 win over No. 4 Palmer Ridge.
Colorado Academy’s Madeline Webster scored just 2:05 into the game, and though Palmer Ridge’s Jessica Berg tied things at 1 six minutes later, it didn’t shake the Mustangs.
Sterre Van Ede
“The first goal really gave us confidence, and because (the tying goal) was so early on, we knew that we could get more goals,” said junior Sterre Van Ede.
In fact, it was Van Ede’s rocket off a corner which gave Colorado Academy a 2-1 advantage and lead for good with 16:04 to play in the first half. She added her second tally, a near-replica off another corner, in the second half which made it 4-1.
“Their goalie is really good,” Van Ede said, “and we just decided to hit the ball as hard as possible.”
Webster and Henley Hall also had two goals for Colorado Academy. Isabelle Chandler also scored for the Mustangs.
Daelynn Demello scored Palmer Ridge’s other goal on a penalty stroke with 16:37 to play in the game.
It was the third time Colorado Academy had beaten Palmer Ridge this season, following a 7-0 win on Sept. 7 and a 2-1 decision just two weeks ago.
“I think it’s always hard to beat a team three times, because you never know how a team’s going to respond for the third time,” Colorado Academy coach Daan Polders said. “They played the way we were expecting them to play. We were prepared for that.”
“We had already beat them twice,” Van Ede said, “why not a third time?”
Colorado Academy has now won 23 games in a row, and is unbeaten (32-0-2) over its past 34. The Mustangs have not lost since the 2011 final, to Kent Denver.
Colorado Academy beat Cherry Creek 3-1 on Sept. 25.
Colorado Academy is the No. 1 seed in this year’s state playoffs. (Courtesy photo)
This group leads by example, and if they have it there way, the number of girls following in their footsteps will continue to grow.
Now in its 16th season, field hockey has proven a popular sport among young women across thirteen state high schools. Recently, the sport has grown in Colorado schools — thanks to members of the class of 2013.
“Every summer there is a summer league where you can come back and play,” said Colorado Academy captain Mandy Weeks. “Alumni, current high schoolers, young kids and adults all come and play during the summer.”
In Colorado, there are three premier field hockey clubs that girls can get involved in: Denver Field Hockey Club, and Colorado Field Hockey Association and Club Lewy located in Colorado Springs. Weeks has gotten involved in Denver’s club, along with a handful of other girls from local high schools.
At Smoky Hill, Jessica Schnitzer first got involved in the game in middle school when the varsity team came down to promote their team.
“They came down and passed out flyers and taught us how to play,” said Schnitzer. “They kind of told us about the team.”
Now part of the varsity team, Schnitzer and her teammates have gotten involved in the community. Smoky Hill, along with a handful of other schools, have started programs that raise awareness about their teams at the seventh- and eighth-grade levels.
“I try to make sure the people at our school know about field hockey and what we’re all about,” Schnitzer said. “The team makes sure we get involved in school activities like participating in the homecoming parade and going down to the middle school and working with the younger kids.”
Kent Denver’s Chloe Dikeou. (Courtesy photo)
Players and coaches have both contributed to field hockey’s growth at Kent Denver.
“Field hockey wouldn’t be possible without our coach, Kathy James,” the Sun Devils’ Chloe Dikeou said. “She has helped develop our program tremendously. We have the second largest sports program at our school behind boys lacrosse.”
Some players have gotten so involved in the game that they hope to coach after graduating this summer. Bailey Taber of St. Mary’s Academy and Hannah Coburn of Mountain Vista plan to return as coaches.
“I want to come back next year and help coach — I love sports, encouraging my teammates and teaching the newbies,” Taber said. “At St. Mary’s, it’s very unique. We get to have a ton of fun while staying competitive. Our teammates become our family.”
Coburn has seen the program grow over her time at Mountain Vista.
“I am going to play field hockey in college and it would be my dream to coach when I come back during the summer at the middle school, high school or club level,” Coburn said. “I have been a part of Denver field hockey for four years but have been coaching and mentoring for two. I’m really proud of our school and the passion it has for the sport. I’m really excited to see where the program goes in the future.”
Taber has also helped the sport grow internationally. During a two-week service trip to Uganda last summer, she brought field hockey to an orphanage.
“We brought plastic field hockey sticks and taught some of the kids down there how to play,” Taber said. “I ran camps and we did a bunch of projects for the community on a two-week service trip to an orphanage. I hope to go back next summer with the same organization and help work with them some more.”
(Courtesy photo)
Kayla Wayne, of Grandview, has reached out to the athletic community through social media.
“I usually tell people to come out to our games over Facebook or Twitter, and talk to other friends who don’t play,” said Wayne. “A lot of my friends notice how close we are on and off the field and that brings them to games.”
In 2013, Daelynn Demello of Palmer Ridge leads the league in points (55) and goals (20), and is tied for first in assists with 15. She and her team lost to Colorado Academy in last season’s championship game.
“This year we’re hoping to make it to (the state final) again, it will help the sport continue to grow at our school,” Demello said.
This season’s state championship bracket was released Tuesday morning Colorado Academy once again claimed the top seed and will play Cheyenne Mountain in the first round.
The semifinals of will take place on Oct. 23, and a state champion will emerge on Oct. 28 in the finals at All-City stadium in Denver.
