It has been part of the discussion on the Mountain Vista boys soccer team for months. Now the moment finally has arrived.
The Golden Eagles will attempt to clear the final hurdle toward a perfect season when they take on Cherry Creek (15-1-3) in the Class 5A state final Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
The two days of finals festivities begin tonight when The Classical Academy takes on St. Mary’s in the Class 3A state championship match at 7 p.m. at Dick’s. Broomfield (13-1-4) and Air Academy (18-1) play the opener of Wednesday’s championship doubleheader in the Class 4A final at 5 p.m.
“We’ve been talking about Nov. 10 since this summer,” Mountain Vista coach Theresa Echtermeyer said. “I put that date in my seniors’ head and said: ‘You know what? We’re going there. We’re absolutely going there. We’re going there Nov. 10.’ Now here we are, and I’m really, really proud of them.”
Top-seeded Mountain Vista (18-0) got off to a fast start in its 4-1 semifinal win against ThunderRidge on Saturday, scoring three first-half goals to fulfill a game plan crafted in part because the Golden Eagles played without Nick Black, a senior defender. Black, the team’s captain, suffered a concussion during Mountain Vista’s quarterfinal win against Rangeview and is expected to remain unavailable for Wednesday’s final.
“He has played every minute of every game as part of our back four,” Echtermeyer said. “So that was really a motivating factor — we knew we had to get in and get goals early. That’s been something we haven’t been good at, but we knew our back line was going to be different.”
Broomfield will play for a state championship for the seventh time in 14 seasons under head coach Jim Davidson. The biggest key for the Eagles will be to continue their strong defensive play against a high-scoring Kadets offense that has averaged five goals a game during the playoffs.
“They’re a really technical team, and they play really well together,” Davidson said. “I think we’ve just got to come out and really play. You win a big game like (the semifinals) and you hope you can bring some of that emotion into the final.”
Tonight’s 3A match between fourth-seeded The Classical Academy (13-4-1) and sixth-seeded St. Mary’s (12-5-2) is a rematch of a Sept. 18 game, won 5-0 by TCA.
