Air Academy coach Nancy Sibley gets one more game to think about a possible victory celebration.
After the Kadets’ upset of No. 3 Arapahoe on Saturday, Sibley did the jumping into a pool backward amid the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, thing. She stuck the landing.
“I got knocked on my butt. Are you kidding? It was great,” Sibley laughed. “I’ll stand right up. I’m good.”
One victory celebration will take place tonight and two more Wednesday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park when the girls state soccer season wraps up — in reverse order — at the home of the Rapids.
Of the six teams, only the two in Class 5A have previous state championships. Two teams are perfect, another is unbeaten, and one — Highlands Ranch-based Valor Christian — is playing its first varsity season.
Tonight’s Class 3A final matches the No. 1 St. Mary’s Pirates (16-1-0) of Colorado Springs against the No. 2 Alexander Dawson Mustangs (18-1-0) of Lafayette. This is the first time in 11 years no team from the Metropolitan League will win the 3A championship.
Led by standouts Christine Whitelaw and Becca Morales, the Pirates lost in the past two finals. The Mustangs feature Gatorade player of the year Olivia Wagner.
Wednesday’s doubleheader starts with the two 18-0-0 teams: the No. 1 Wheat Ridge Farmers and No. 6 Valor Christian Eagles. The Class 4A powers are led by some of the best young talent in the state.
The Farmers, who have not advanced this far since reaching the 2003 Class 5A semifinals, are led by sophomores Annie Kunz and Bella Hartley, along with seniors Elle Ossello and Nikki Gamberg.
The Eagles have no seniors, five juniors and 15 talented underclassmen.
“They work really hard for each other. . . . It’s fun to be around those kinds of players every day,” Eagles coach Brock Becker said.
The Class 5A final matches the top-seeded Chatfield Chargers (18-0-1) against the No. 10 Kadets (16-3-0).
Two of the best goalkeepers in the state — Chatfield’s Alyssa Gillmore, a 2008 All-Colorado selection, and Kadets junior Sarah Tanous — will be on the field. Both made some top-shelf stops in their semifinal victories.
The Chargers, state champions in 2004 and 1996, lost striker Sarah Schmeda (knee injury), but still have Callie Hancock and standout central defender Kelsi Latham. The Kadets, state champions in 1993, have dynamic freshman striker Sarah Schweiss.
