Ralston Valley only needed one game in the last two weeks to show they are a top-10 team.
The Mustangs came away with a 20-3 win over Confier on Saturday and that was all the CHSAANow.com girls lacrosse voters needed to put them in the poll at No. 9.
Colorado Academy held on to its spot at No. 1, getting seven of eight first-place votes this week. The other first-place vote went to Denver East who comes in at No. 4.
Overall, the top six spots from the previous rankings went unchanged.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Chaparral joined the 5A boys lacrosse ranking at No. 6 this week. (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
Between the Class 5A and 4A CHSAANow.com boys lacrosse rankings, Chaparral is the only fresh face of the bunch.
Behind a 6-0 record, the Wolverines land at No. 6 in this week’s poll.
Defending champion Cherry Creek remains the top team in 5A, with Mountain Vista staying put at No. 2 and only trailing the Bruins by 10 points in the polls.
There were no new teams in the 4A rankings this week, but Golden was able to jump three spots to land at No. 6.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
ERIE — After trailing 7-0 in the second inning, Erie baseball rallied to beat Holy Family 9-7 on Saturday.
The Tigers put up five runs in the bottom of the second inning to cut away at the lead. The tied things an inning later, and then took the lead for good in the fifth.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Riley Gregory and Toby Scoles each went 3-for-3 with two RBIs as No. 6 Pine Creek baseball beat Legend 9-4 on Saturday.
Wade Council added a solo home run for the Eagles in the win. Jay Onken, a sophomore, threw 4 1/3 innings to secure the win. He didn’t allow a run, and gave up just two hits and three walks while striking out three.
ARVADA — Faith Christian senior AJ Stephens threw a six-inning no-hitter against Bishop Machebeuf in his team’s 10-0 win on Saturday.
Stephens struck out 14 batters in the win, and walked just three. He was also 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs, including a triple and a double, and stole two bases.
COLORADO SPRINGS — The Air Academy Kadets won their three girls lacrosse state titles in a span of three years. They hadn’t missed the Final 4 since 2010.
So when the Kadets were eliminated in the second round of the state playoffs last year, it was a shell shock to those on the team who had reached the pinnacle of the game only a year earlier.
“I think it was a wake-up call for all the girls last year,” junior Kennedy Jamieson said. “We had kind of a rough season. For the girls who had been here the year before, it was really a wake-up call, because we knew we had to work more as a team. We would get frustrated very easily.”
So this season, when first-year coach Jason Wallace took the program over, he wanted to change the culture and get it closer to what it was in 2014.
The first step in that process was to simplify things. He now preaches to his team that things need to be done in short order for them to achieve long-term success.
One play. One goal. One team.
That’s how this year’s Air Academy team operates.
“It took a few weeks for the kids to adapt to it,” Wallace said. “They were shell-shocked the first few days, but after that, they started to buy into the philosophy here and the dedication comes with it.”
And the results have come with that. The Kadets have jumped out to a 3-1 record, with their early loss coming to Denver East who is currently ranked No. 4 in the CHSAANow.com girls lacrosse rankings. The Kadets battled all game, but it was the Angels coming away with a 7-6 win.
Nevertheless, this team, currently ranked eighth, feels much more comfortable than the team that took the field last season.
“We’ve really worked hard on team bonding,” Jamieson said. “Our chemistry on the field is so much better now because we’re such a tight family. We understand each other on the field and we’re not so much worried about our stats anymore. We just want the win for the team.”
That’s a situation that can be easier said than done sometimes. But in his first year, Wallace came into the season knowing that his players would have the ability to compete with the top programs in the state. The school had shown that capability not long ago.
So if there was any pressure on him coming in and restoring the level of play to a state championship level, he wouldn’t let it show. If anything, he simply changed what kind of emotion was being utilized to accomplish his goals.
“I didn’t have any pressure, I had expectations,” he said. “I had the drive and the want to get that team back.”
(Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
After a 19-1 win over Pueblo West on Friday, it appears that he is well on his way in doing that. And the scary part is that his team is outscoring its opponents 69-11 with only one senior, goalkeeper Isabel Marbaker, on the roster.
He’s hoping that Marbaker and the handful of juniors he has on the roster can teach the younger players that there aren’t always going to be blowout victories and success needs to appreciated. But a big part of doing that is getting back to the team’s motto for this season.
One play. One goal. One team.
“That’s all it comes down to, keep it simple,” Wallace said. “We as a team, 20 players, come together with that same thought process, when we walk on the field and everyone’s like that, nothing is going to stop us.”
More photos. (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Colorado Academy lived up to its team mascot without question Friday, as the team ran wild and free in true Mustang fashion.
The defending Class 3A state champion and current No. 1-ranked team in the CHSAANow.com 3A girls soccer rankings earned a 5-0 road victory over No. 8 SkyView Academy (2-2) that was seemingly effortless.
“We definitely wanted to play our style of game, which is a solid possession style and just come out and have fun, playing the game we like to play,” junior captain Sarah Masinter said. “It really is a team effort, obviously the goals I scored were off of really great passes back into the middle, so how we play possession really leads to the goals.”
Masinter was essential to the Colorado Academy offense as she netted two goals in the contest. But she wasn’t the only one as sophomore Anna Ponzio was able to put away two herself, one off of a pass from Masinter.
Sophomore Maddie Bauer was the first to get on board for the Mustangs before the floodgates ultimately opened, as that was another goal that was setup and assisted by Masinter.
Coming out of halftime down 4-0, the tension and uneasiness being exuded by the contingent of SkyView parents and fans was noticeable, as curiosity concerning how their squad would respond in the second half was overwhelming.
More photos. (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
The Hawks erased all doubt, coming out with a renewed aggression to try and change the tide of the match.
Although they couldn’t produce goals to match the explosive offensive output of Colorado Academy, they had a few strong possessions that led to promising opportunities on goal.
One of those chances came on a free kick about 20 yards outside of the box on the east end of the pitch, as freshman Hannah Dempsey put in a great ball over two defenders that required a diving save to prevent a point.
Midway through the second half, the Hawks had a couple more opportunities to try and get on the board to avoid the shutout.
Included: a loose ball scrum in the box in the face of the Mustang goalkeeper, and another off of an admirable individual effort from sophomore Jena Steller in which she was able to elude two defenders on a 30-yard scamper that saw her shot go just right of the goal.
Maintained possession was also key in the Hawks’ effort to get back into the game, but then again the discipline and patience of the Mustangs in the end just proved to be too much for the Hawks to handle. SkyView Academy is winless in two games at home on the season.
“We just wanted to do what we continue to do well, which is support each other on the field with movement off the ball and quick speed of play,” coach Sean Stedeford said. “We were able to use the space very effectively and able to find players that were open instead of forcing the ball to our top players.”
Up next for Colorado Academy, they pay a visit to No. 2-ranked Kent Denver next Tuesday, while SkyView will host Cornerstone Christian Academy on Saturday.
