Englewood – The Mullen girls soccer team saved its very best for the very last.
Maybe the third time was a charm, or maybe Mullen adhered to the words of former college basketball coach Jim Valvano about never giving up.
Whatever the case, the Mustangs won their first Class 5A state soccer title with a nail-biting, 1-0 overtime victory against Centennial League rival Cherry Creek on Tuesday night at Englewood Stadium.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Mullen sophomore Hannah Peterson said about her game-winning goal in the 95th minute.
It was a wild final sequence, with no one on the field aware of everything that happened but where the full story could be pieced together through four or five vantage points.
With time running down in overtime, Mullen’s Brittany Kerridge, the title game’s most valuable player, delivered a corner kick toward the far corner and into a sea of bodies, friend and foe alike. Cherry Creek goalkeeper Paige Kramer, who kept the overtime session alive minutes earlier with a clutch late save, went up for the ball and knocked it down into the crowd.
Mullen defender Brittney McDonald put a foot on the loose ball and sent it to the empty right corner of the goal. Peterson was standing right there, all alone, and tapped in the goal with 58.8 seconds showing on the scoreboard.
“I couldn’t even tell what happened. It was crazy,” said Peterson, who said the ball was about a foot or two away from the line when she got to it. “I think it would have gone in. It was really (McDonald’s) goal.”
Mullen (14-5-1), which lost to Cherry Creek twice in the regular season, won 4A championships in 1998, 2001, 2002. Last season, Arapahoe beat the Mustangs 1-0 in overtime of the state title game.
“We kept battling the whole time and we knew a goal was going to come eventually,” Kerridge said.
Not everyone else in attendance was so certain.
The first half was played almost entirely in the midfield, with the teams playing cautiously on the wet, slick turf. The second half also was fairly even, save for a couple of near-misses by Mullen striker Danielle Foxhoven.
The crafty junior took a lead pass from Kerridge in the 74th minute and had a path to the goal, but her shot went high. Five minutes later, Foxhoven created space in front of the goal but again went high.
Cherry Creek (15-4-1), 5A champion in 2001, controlled the advances of Foxhoven for much of the game, and the Bruins’ midfield was especially effective. Three wins over the Mustangs in one season, however, was not in the cards.
“First overtime we played well & and we had some chances,” Cherry Creek coach David Paynter said. “We beat them the first two times, but they are a good team.”
5A SOCCER MVP
Mullen junior midfielder Brittany Kerridge created much of the offensive pace for the Mustangs, with a handful of her lead passes finding room between defenders. Kerridge’s perfectly placed corner kick in overtime led to the game-winning goal.
Mullen 0 0 1 – 1
Cherry Creek 0 0 0 – 0
Goal – Hannah Peterson (Brittney McDonald), 95th minute. Shots on goal – Mullen 2-2-2 – 6; Cherry Creek 2-4-1 – 7. Saves – Mullen (Palomino, first half, and Tooley) 2-4-1 – 7; Cherry Creek (Kramer) 2-2-1 – 5. Offsides – Mullen 0-3-0 – 3; Cherry Creek 0-0-0 – 0. Corner kicks – Mullen 2-1-2 – 5; Cherry Creek 0-0-0 – 0. Fouls – Mullen 3-2-2 – 7; Cherry Creek 2-7-1 – 10. Yellow cards – Boryla, CC, 59th minute; Kerridge, M, 87th.
