LITTLETON — If Air Academy girls lacrosse coach Sean Harmon is anything, he’s intense.
So after watching his Kadets roll to a convincing 19-4 nonleague victory Tuesday over the Heritage/Littleton Gryphons, Harmon was asked whether he was more impressed with the offense or the defense.
“Neither,” Harmon said flatly. “Possession. Possession is everything in this game.”
In a rematch of last year’s state semifinal won by the Gryphons (because of the Kadets’ lack of possession, Harmon reminded), the Kadets stormed out to a 5-0 lead, relentlessly swarmed the Gryphons and never allowed them to sniff a rally at Gallup Park.
University of Denver-bound Alex Befus scored seven goals and dished out five assists and Hayley Bernstein had four goals and two assists as the senior-loaded Kadets improved to 13-0.
“We knew this was a really big game toward our season and our reputation,” Befus said.
Air Academy is hoping to impress the playoff seeding committee and land a No. 2 or No. 3 seed, which would potentially keep the Kadets away from three-time defending champion Cherry Creek — the presumed No. 1 seed — until the final.
Revenge was a big motivator, too.
“It’s kind of been on our shoulders all year,” Befus said of last year’s one-goal loss to the Gryphons (10-2).
The Kadets won all but three draws in the first half and outshot the Gryphons 17-3 en route to an 11-1 lead at the break. The Kadets disrupted the Gryphons’ transition game, picked them off in the defensive end and scooped up seemingly every ground ball.
Goalie Ashley Keller further frustrated the Gryphons by stopping their first two shots. Keller faced just eight shots and made four saves.
Junior goalie Jenna Pauline made 13 saves for the Gryphons.
Air Academy 11 8 — 19
Heritage/Littleton 1 3 — 4
Goals — AA: Befus 7, Bernstein 4, Barry 3, Olsen 2, Sagaert, Beal, Todd; HL: Datino, Clark, Annalora, Salemo.
Assists — AA: Befus 5, Bernstein, Reid.
Shots on goal — Air Academy 17-15 – 32; Heritage/Littleton 3-5 – 8. Saves — Air Academy (Keller) 2-2 – 4; Heritage/Littleton (Pauline) 6-7 – 13.
