The Golden Eagles, playing in their first ever championship game in any sport, completed an amazing postseason run on Tuesday night at Legacy Stadium with a thrilling win over Arapahoe on penalty kicks after the teams battled to a 1-1 draw in regulation and two overtime periods.
Mountain Vista goalkeeper Erin Wallace, who had five saves during the game, came up big in the shootout making saves on all three Arapahoe shots she faced. The Air Force Academy-bound keeper went to her right to stop the first two shots and to the left to stop the third.
"It's instinct for the most part," Wallace said. "You can read their hips sometimes and tell if they are a power shooter or a placement shooter and then go where you think they are going."
Offensively, the Golden Eagles put three shots past Arapahoe goalkeeper Dawn Barone in the shootout. Emily Stewart scored the first with a shot to the lower right side of the net. Jessica Nicholas fired one to the top left of the net and then Mary White, who assisted on the first goal of the game for the Golden Eagles, went high for the game- and title-winner.
"I knew I had to do it for the team," White said. "We worked so hard to get here. We have been practicing these all year, at least since the playoffs began."
The Warriors looked like the program that has been to the state championship game before in the first minute of the game when junior Lindsay Stein got the ball near midfield and rushed it up the right side of the field. Two Mountain Vista defenders committed to her, but Stein calmly slide a crossing pass to Lauren Cavarra, who was sprinting up the middle of the field. Stein and Cavarra teamed up for the winning goal in the semifinals against Heritage and proved to be just as dangerous in the championship as Cavarra ripped the shot home for a 1-0 lead.
Arapahoe, which has won the state title eight times since 1979 - most recently in 2000 - got the advantage with that goal and did a good job of limiting the long ball attacks from the speedy Mountain Vista team playing in the school's first ever state championship game. The Golden Eagles, the giant killers that knocked of No. 1-seeded Green Mountain and No. 5 Chatfield en route to the title game, took the goal in stride and stayed with their game plan.
"We learned to overcome a lot in the past few years," White said. "We got through a lot of hardships through the past few years and we didn't let it affect us."
That confidence paid off with four minutes remaining in the first half with the Golden Eagles' first, and only, significant build up into Arapahoe territory. Mountain Vista junior midfielder Mary White got the ball deep in Arapahoe territory and crossed a perfect pass to Briana Flanigan, who ripped a high shot into the top of the net to even things up 1-1.
"We got down early against Highlands Ranch and came back from that," Flannigan said. "We knew we could do it again here."
Arapahoe dominated the pace of play through most of the game but could not put a second shot away.
"We did everything but put the ball away, we did everything but finish," Arapahoe coach Kirk Bast said. "Their kids weathered the storm defensively and that is a heck of a story for that keeper [Wallace]. She is the MVP, big time."
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