(Dan Mohrmann)
COLORADO SPRINGS — The Air Academy girls lacrosse team advanced to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs after an impressive 19-2 win over Heritage/Littleton Friday night.
The Lady Kadets’ offense worked smoothly and efficiently as the defense played a near-flawless game forcing turnover after turnover. The Gryphons never appeared to get comfortable and the lack of flow played right into Air Academy’s ability to run their offense and convert their shots on goal.
“Defense wins championships. I’m an old sports cliche guy,” Kadets coach Sean Harmon said. “We really focus on that. Jessica Berg — I think from briefly looking at the book — she had 10 steals, which is an amazing game. I know that was frustrating for them in their offensive zone that we would get those quick takeaways.”
Minutes into the game the Kadets were able to build a 2-0 lead before the Gryphons would find the back of the net for the first time. Alexandra Coy cut the lead for Air Academy in half, but that’s when the Kadets would kick it into high gear. Led by midfielder Kaley Holmes, the Kadets would score the next 10 goals to end the second half, going into the break with a 12-2 lead.
Holmes led the squad with three first half goals while midfielder Natalie Berg and attacker Kennedy Jamieson each contributed two. The balanced scoring attack was designed to keep the Gryphons from being able to focus defensively on a single player.
“Having it be the first playoff game for us we wanted to come out here and play our game and play the best game we know how to play,” Natalie Berg said. “When we came out here we moved the ball on offense and wanted to make sure that not a single person was a threat so that it was difficult for them to defend us.”
The Kadets came out in the second half and scored five more before Heritage/Littleton would add its second goal of the game. But it would be too little, too late and Air Academy would move on with the 19-2 win. It was the kind of statement that the Kadets were hoping to make as they start their run at a state championship.
Constant offensive pressure and and a stingy defense is the kind of game that Harmon likes to see from his team and hopes to see plenty of it in the coming weeks.
“We fight for draw, every possession; whenever we do cause a turnover defensively we like to move the ball through transition and get going,” Harmon said. “Today we had our cutters moving and we were able to get some goals pretty easily.”
The road will only get tougher for the Kadets as they await the winner of Kent Denver and Cheyenne Mountain. They know the road to the championship will only get tougher so getting a big win early will help the Kadets build confidence as they get going.
“Momentum is all of it, we just gotta keep coming out hard,” Holmes said. “We went all out today and we came together as a team which was a big thing. It’s been kind of a struggle for us so coming out and playing the whole game and playing hard is what we’re trying to build on.”
Air Academy’s quarterfinal opponent will be determined Saturday with the quarterfinal game to be played next week.