As far as team-building exercises go, dressing up like marathon runners at school and setting up “hydration stations” in the hallways certainly is unique.
It was just another way to have fun for Colorado Academy, which acted more like a bunch of sprinters than distance runners in a 17-7 victory over East in the quarterfinal round of the girls state lacrosse playoffs Wednesday night at All-City Stadium.
“We always do fun things like that. We enjoy being around each other,” said Colorado Academy’s Deslie Hamersky, who scored four goals and assisted on another.
Colorado Academy (12-5) will face defending state champion Kent Denver in the semifinals Saturday at the Stutler Bowl.
East, which beat the Mustangs by a goal during the second half of the regular season, ended its season 12-4-1.
This time around, the contest was not close.
Colorado Academy took a 3-0 lead two minutes into the game with unassisted goals by Morgan Miller, Hamersky and Sarah Robinson, and the score was 10-1 in favor of the Mustangs after the first half. Miller scored four goals and assisted twice, and Chapin Jackson and Ashley Peterson scored three times apiece.
“Coming into this game, our energy was high. We were ready to go the semis. We knew we could do it,” Miller said.
This will be Colorado Academy’s seventh trip to the semi- final round in the past eight seasons.
East, which enjoyed its best season since 2002, found itself in too big of a hole too early but was able to finish with a flurry of goals in the final minutes.
“The season that we had is a reflection of our team. We hit a lull at the end of the season with no games to play and it was hard to maintain that momentum. CA played a phenomenal game; unfortunately they didn’t face our best team,” East coach Averill Hovey said.
Nellie Hayes and Krista Shaw scored two goals each for the Angels, and Ashley Felber, Stefanie Tuder and Jody Weisenhorn each added a goal.
Colorado Academy’s offense was fluid from the start, with crisp, clean passes up and down the field. Often, however, the Mustangs did not even need to pass. Instead, they would grab the faceoff and race in untouched toward Mo Mulligan’s goal. Mulligan, East’s keeper, faced 23 shots on her goal.
Colorado Academy 10 7 – 17
East 1 6 – 7
First half – Colorado Academy, Miller (un-
assisted), 24:37. CA, Hamersky (unassisted), 23:47. CA, Robinson (unassisted), 22:57. East, Hayes (unassisted), 18:54. CA, Hamersky (un-
assisted), 15:28. CA, Jackson (unassisted), 14:06. CA, Hamersky (Haughey), 12:33. CA, Jackson (Brown), 12:11. CA, Peterson (Jackson), 10:23. CA, Peterson (unassisted), 7:07. CA, Miller (unassisted), 5:41.
Second half – E, Felber (unassisted), 23:52. CA, Hamersky (Miller), 22:35. E, Shaw (unassisted), 14:30. CA, Miller (unassisted), 13:01. E, Tuder (Nelsen), 12:46. CA, Jackson (Miller), 11:55. CA, Peterson (Hamersky), 11:13. CA, Brown (unassisted), 10:25. CA, Koehn (unassisted), 8:18. CA, Miller (unassisted), 6:38. E, Shaw (unassisted), 3:35. E, Weisenhorn (unassisted), 1:51. E, Hayes (unassisted), 1:12.
Shots on goal – Colorado Academy 13-10 – 23; East 4-9 – 13. Saves – Colorado Academy (Pav and Ross) 3-3 – 6; East (Mulligan) 3-3 – 6. Yellow card – Nelsen, E.
