Goals have been hard to come by for Green Mountain’s girls soccer team this season.
Green Mountain (9-5-1, 5-3-1 in Class 5A Jeffco League) has lacked scoring in bunches during conference play. The Rams have been shutout three times and scored more than three goals only once this regular season.
“Our problem all year is we aren’t finishing,” Green Mountain coach Ken Fehr said after the Rams escaped a pesky Pomona squad with a 2-1 victory Thursday, April 23, at Lakewood Memorial Field. “I really thought today we would come out and score four or five goals. We were in position to do that. We just didn’t get it done.”
Green Mountain’s offense did come alive in the 26th minute to break a scoreless tie against Pomona (4-10, 1-7). Freshman Karlea Fehr tucked a shot into the back of the net for the Rams. Less than a minute later junior Megan Piccirilli bent a long shot from a though angle past Pomona sophomore goalkeeper Erin Latorra.
The back-to-back goals in less than a minute gave the Rams a 2-0 lead.
It was then up to Green Mountain goalkeeper Meagan Burke to preserve the 2-1 victory that clinched a postseason spot for the Rams.
Pomona cut Green Mountain’s lead to 2-1 four minutes into the second half. Junior Myranda Hemlock scored for the Panthers to give Pomona some life.
“It took awhile this season for us to get our confidence up and work as a team,” Pomona junior Meghan Stuart said. “Next year we are going to come out strong.”
Pomona ended Lakewood’s hopes for a trip to the postseason with the Panthers’ first league victory a week early. The Panthers gave rival Arvada West a strong test before falling 1-0 April 21.
The Panthers nearly sent the game against Green Mountain into overtime. Pomona freshman Tanisha Anderson had a shot from point-blank range that Burke was able to make a diving save on in the 74th minute.
“Pomona hung around. Give them credit,” Coach Fehr said. “We got lucky. (Burke) made a few great saves and kept us alive. Nobody in Jeffco ever quits. It doesn’t matter if you are in the playoffs or out of the playoffs.”
Burke hopes she will get some more goal support with Green Mountain enters the playoffs next week. The 5A playoffs begin Tuesday, May 5.
“Our offense is young up top and they are learning,” Burke said. “Hopefully we can clean everything up in the midfield and up top. We need to get some energy going into the playoffs.”
Green Mountain didn’t find any offensive energy in its final tune up for the playoffs Saturday, April 25. Mullen blanked the Rams 3-0 in a nonleague game at Mullen High School.
“We need to find some intensity and a spark for the playoffs,” Coach Fehr said.