Girls Soccer: Niwot comes up short against Standley Lake

On March 14, the Niwot girls soccer team traveled to Arvada’s North Area Athletic Complex for a non-conference game against the Standley Lake Gators. In a hard-fought contest that left both teams battered and bruised, Standley Lake took advantage of some rare miscues by the Cougar defense to earn a 2-1 victory, their second of the year.

Niwot managed just four shots on the day, and spent most of the second half in their own end of the field, fending off a relentless Standley Lake attack. The Gators’ first goal came in the game’s 42nd minute, after Cougar keeper Allie Colvin was lured too far out of the net to stop a quick kick from Standley Lake freshman Delaney Huetson.

Niwot senior Kailee Stobbe quickly retaliated for the Cougars, scoring her third goal of the season just minutes later to tie the game at 1-1. But sophomore Haley Klasner put the Gators ahead for good in the 54th minute when her shot sailed over Colvin’s head into the far corner of the net.

For Niwot head soccer coach Stephen Dimit, the disappointing outcome certainly wasn’t due to a lack of effort on the Cougars’ part. “The girls played really hard,” he said. “But we struggled to get any kind of sustained offense going, and we didn’t shoot enough.”

Going into the game, Dimit knew that the physically imposing Gators would be a tough early-season test for the Cougars, and blamed the loss partly on a lack of “offensive confidence.”

“We certainly have players that can score goals,” he continued. “But top to bottom, we need to have everyone feeling confident that they’re capable of that.”

On the other side of the ball, Dimit credited juniors Kenzie and Roxie Pasma with keeping the defense in line so far this season, despite the two-goal loss to Standley Lake.

“Kenzie is absolutely running the show back there,” said the coach. “She and her sister Roxie have cleaned up any little messes that start to slip through.”

Overall, he said that the defense is meeting his expectations, even if there is still some room for improvement. “It’s coming along piece by piece,” he said. “We’re still working on our communication and getting the back four in sync just a little bit mwore so we don’t have to rely so much on individual heroics.”

As for Colvin, Dimit said his junior goalie is a fierce competitor, and not the type to take any missteps to heart.“She’s got a short memory that way,” he said. “If there’s a mistake, she bounces back really quickly.”

While Dimit was disappointed with the loss last week, he thinks his team will nevertheless take some lessons from it.

“We’re going to have games like this,” he admitted. “To be honest, it can be good to see this kind of team early on.”

Up next for the Cougars is a road match against Skyline (1-1) on Mar. 21, followed by a home game against Windsor (3-0) on Mar. 23.

3/14 — Standley Lake 2, Niwot 1

Cougars (1-1) 0 1 — 1

Gators (2-1-1) 0 2 — 2

Goals — Kailee Stobbe

Assists— Charlotte McCarthy

Goalies (Min-Goals allowed-Saves) — Allie Colvin (80-2-8)