AURORA — While it may be a very different season for Cherry Creek and Kent Denver, which have an unusually high 10 combined losses in 2009, these two put the arch in Colorado lacrosse archrivals.
Instead of their usual match at Invesco Field at Mile High, which was postponed like seemingly everything else this ridiculous spring, the two programs that have combined for eight championships since the sport’s sanctioning in 1999 met at Legacy Stadium.
Cherry Creek handled defending Colorado champion Kent Denver 11-6 in a well-played match.
As lacrosse nears its playoffs, what better way to prepare?
“This rivalry goes a long way,” Kent Denver coach Tom Graesser said, adding he had purposely set up a difficult late stretch — the Sun Devils went down Friday against Mullen — to prepare. “There are about a half-dozen teams that could win it.”
The Bruins (9-6) did the winning Saturday in a variety of ways — their ball movement and defense were exceptional, they received solid work in goal, their transition had its moments and they finally seemed to understand how to play together.
“It’s a funny thing,” Cherry Creek coach Bryan Perry said. “You go through a season of lows and highs, sometimes more lows, and you just tell the kids to keep believing. We’re getting better.”
Cherry Creek never trailed. The Bruins ran to a 4-0 lead, weathered two moves by the Sun Devils that got them within a goal, then put it away in the final period.
Plus, they held Kent Denver (8-4) scoreless in the opening and final quarters, no easy task.
“We know them and they know us,” Cherry Creek’s Joey Cicerelli said. “We stressed moving the ball and it opened some doors for us.”
Cicerelli, Bryan Price and R.C. Willenbrock each scored three times for the Bruins. Cicerelli fired home two goals in the decisive fourth period.
For Kent Denver, Frazier Cavness, bound for Dartmouth, was all over the field, scoring four goals and constantly pressuring. However, the Bruins, notably Willy Holiday, kept the clamps on the Sun Devils’ attack and held all-stater Patrick Murray without a goal. Kent Denver also had trouble finding the net with its shots and suffered multiple turnovers.
“We made a lot of fundamental mistakes we haven’t been making,” Graesser said.
Kent Denver 0 4 2 0 — 6
Cherry Creek 2 3 2 4 — 11
Goals — CC: Cicerelli 3, Price 3, Willenbrock 3, Beimford, Williams; KD: Cavness 4, Key, Strazzo. Assists — CC: Beimford 2, Willenbrick 2, Williams 2; KD: Key, Florence, Murray.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
