COLORADO SPRINGS — Just as the players were about to return to their positions for the second half of a deadlocked state championship match, lightning stole Forge Christian’s thunder.
Another 30 minutes were added to the scoreboard clock at Switchbacks Weidner Field. Thirty more minutes of waiting.
The Fury retreated to the locker room. Looking to kill time and crowdsource inspiration, coach Nick Arter posed a question to his team. Icebreaker style, they went around in a circle.
“Each person shared what they were grateful for,” Arter said. “One at a time, 25 girls plus the coaches, we all shared what we were grateful for. Bottom line was, they were all grateful for each other more than anything. Grateful they get to play this game together and be on the team together. So we said, well, if you love each other so much, then let’s go play for each other.”
With a jaw-dropping goal from an unlikely hero and another shutdown effort from the backline, Forge Christian went on to a 2-0 victory Wednesday over top-seeded and undefeated Buena Vista, bringing a Class 2A girls soccer state title home to Arvada.
Junior Kali Knight broke the tie with 26 and a half minutes remaining, launching a sneak attack from an angle that would make Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon jealous. Knight made a throw-in from deep in the corner, then a teammate tapped the ball back to her near the sideline. Standing only a few feet from the corner-kick spot, she ripped a one-timer into the box. What appeared at first to be a cross floated majestically to the back post and into the net, top shelf.
“It caught us off guard,” Arter said. “We saw the ball out wide, and all of a sudden I heard it. You could hear someone make good connection with the ball. I thought it was a cross.”
Knight even surprised herself. It was her first goal of the entire season.
“Really good timing,” she said, laughing.
“I just kind of put my leg out and just shot it. I don’t know. I have no idea how that happened. … I was trying to aim kind of for the net. I was hoping for, like, a curve. But it’s OK. I got the goal.”
“Been kind of in a slump or down on herself,” Arter said. “I think that she didn’t quit all year. To be in a slump and come pull that shot off in the last few minutes of a final match — brilliant.”
Senior Emily Gilbert tacked on an insurance goal with 7 minutes to go, starting the party earlier than expected on Forge Christian’s side of the bleachers. It’s the school’s fourth state title in girls soccer, its first since 2008.
The Fury didn’t allow a goal all postseason. Senior goalie Rio Beck went out with a clean sheet to secure the trophy. She, Knight and their teammates had a second wind after spending a little extra quality time together in the last halftime of the year.
“Our coaches, the team, we all just built each other up together to get to this spot,” Knight said, “and I think that was just really encouraging to everybody. … My team built me up so much. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
