Cougar girls soccer continues hot streak

It was a drama filled week for the Niwot High School girls soccer team as the players looked to continue their winning streak.

Despite being down at halftime in both games, the Cougars pulled off victories against Centaurus and Mead in dramatic fashion, bringing their overall record to 9-3 on the season.

Head Coach Rob Johnson said his team competed to the best of their ability this week and he was proud of their effort.

“I will always try to give us a chance to win,” Johnson said. “These girls played their heart out this week.”

In the game against Centaurus, the Cougars needed to pull out the win to give themselves a chance to win their division.

After the first half, Centaurus had a 1-0 lead and time was running out on the Cougars. Luckily for the Cougars, they have some of the best scorers in the league and were not going to go down without a fight.

Senior Hannah Grey scored the tying goal in the second half which forced overtime, and junior Maddie Barkow scored in the overtime off of a 20-yard penalty kick that gave Niwot the victory, 2-1.

The win ensured Niwot would at least finish tied for first in the league, but with Silver Creek also winning earlier in the week and Niwot losing to the Raptors earlier in the year, the Cougars technically finish in second place in league play.

“We took fourth last year and didn’t make the playoffs,” Johnson said. “This year we finished in second and really tied for first, so I can’t complain.”

Against Mead, the Cougars again found themselves down by a goal going into the second half of a dreary and cold game.

Johnson said it was clear his girls had a hard time adjusting to the weather at first.

“On the bus ride over, you could tell both teams didn’t want to be here,” Johnson said after the game. “Both teams came out flat and they found the goal early against us.”

Entering the final ten minutes of the game, Niwot was still down 3-2, but then the floodgates opened and persistence payed off.

Grey scored her second goal of the match with ten minutes left, tying the match and giving the Cougars a renewed spirit. That was enough momentum for junior Kailee Stobbe to work with, as she scored two more goals in the closing minutes to give Niwot the 5-3 victory.

After the match Stobbe said she was happy to see her team rebound even despite everything working against them.

“As a team it was impressive to see us come back from down 3-2,” Stobbe said while bundling up after the game. “With our coach mad at us and everything working against us, it was great to be able to pull through with a win.”

Johnson said some late season injuries contributed to the slow start as well for the Cougars, but they eventually figured it out.

“The hard part for us is [junior] Lauren Wolf is out, [sophomore] Mallory Lopez is out so a few of our girls are having to play more defense,” Johnson said of his team’s makeup. “It takes a minute to figure things out but these girls are awesome and they continue to play hard.”

With three games left on the schedule, the goal of winning ten games on the season is very much in reach for Niwot. Johnson said they just need to keep persisting and working hard and they will be very tough to beat come playoff time.

“If I have Grey, Barkow, and Stobbe up front, you just can’t stop them,” Johnson said. “The goal is always ten wins, we tied the league winners and can have a better record than them. This has been a very good season.”

The Cougars will try and reach that ten-game threshold this week with games against at Ralston Valley Wednesday, May 4 at 5 p.m. and at Windsor on Friday at 6 p.m.

Centaurus 1 0 0 – 1

Niwot 0 1 1 – 2

At Niwot High School

Goals – Niwot: Gray, Barkow. Centaurus: Turcotte.

Assists – Niwot: Sypher.

Goalies (Min-Goals allowed-Saves) – Niwot: Colvin 80-1-1.

Niwot 2 3 – 5

Mead 3 0 – 3

At Mead High School

Goals – Niwot: Gray (2), Stobbe (2), Jeske. Mead: Kessler (2), Fox.

Assists – Niwot: Barkow, Gray, Stobbe, Sypher. Mead: Lee.

Goalies (Min-Goals allowed-Saves) – Niwot: Colvin 80-3-4. Mead: Jelinek 80-5-13.