HIGHLANDS RANCH — After sitting out the second round of the soccer state tournament with a broken nose, Kylee Duren got the chance to do something in the quarterfinals she hadn’t done the entire season — score a goal.
Primarily a midfielder, Duren saw her opportunity to score, and on more than one occasion.
Aspen Robinson and Kylee Duren scored two goals each in No. 3 ThunderRidge’s 4-1 victory over No. 11 Cherry Creek on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A girls soccer tournament.
“It felt great to score again,” Duren said. “I haven’t scored in a long time (since sophomore year). I’m used to distributing, so it was nice to get a goal.”
ThunderRidge coach Chris Smith said Duren broke her nose knocking heads with another player in the first-round game against Prairie View
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“She had a mask on and tried to play last game, and it was too hard for her to see,” Smith said.
Duren found her first opportunity when senior midfielder Janessa Fowler held back a little.
“I took the opportunity to go forward and I called for the ball,” Duren said. “The second pass was from Aspen, and she slotted a nice ball across the box and I slotted it right in.”
Robinson did some damage herself. She scored a goal within the first two minutes of the game.
Junior defender Mallory Plachy tied the game in the 28th minute. Sophomore goalkeeper Sierra Roth made an initial one-handed save, but as soon as she released the ball back to her team, Plachy was there to take control of the ball and send it whizzing back over Roth’s head into the net.
Robinson scored again in the 42nd minute of the game — what would be the game-winning goal.
Grizzlies senior defender Katie Desch got a yellow card in the first half in a game that was very physical from players on both teams.
“She (Desch) was just going for the ball and it was a bad angle. She just took the girl (Creek player) out,” Duren said.
Duren said there were a lot of silly, tacky mistakes called.
“Players get really worked up and their emotions get to them. Then they kind of just take out the other player,” Duren said.
Cherry Creek coach Jim Schneider said ThunderRidge “is a good team from top to bottom.”
“I think we’re a run and gun team, and I think they’re very much a possession and a patience team,” Schneider said. “The center midfielders are strong on the ball, excellent on possessing and finding open people. The forwards put a lot of pressure on us.”
Creek senior captain Emma Maloney agreed the Grizzlies’ midfield was really strong.
“They were able to pass it around and just keep it until we made a mistake. Then they could just slot it through and find the open spots. That was the hardest for us,” Maloney said.
ThunderRidge will play No. 2 Grandview at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Legacy Stadium in Aurora.
