Amelia McCarthy (6) and the Cherry Creek field hockey team are primed to make a run at the state championship. The Bruins are undefeated and already have eclipsed their scoring output from last season.
File photo by Theodore Stark
Only three games into the 2018 season, the
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) field hockey team made a big statement.
The Bruins, riding second-half goals from juniors
Lucy Butler and
Isabella Balbona, took down defending state champion
Palmer Ridge (Monument) 2-0 on Aug. 30. Victories over traditional powers like
Denver East,
Kent Denver (Englewood) and
Regis Jesuit (Aurora) followed, helping the Bruins get off to an 8-0 start.
For a program that scored only 25 goals a year ago and was bounced from the first round of the postseason, that is reason enough to be optimistic headed into the second half of the season. But for Cherry Creek, which hasn't played for a state championship since 2015 and hasn't won a title since 2007, the potential for even more is certainly there.
The team's next five games come against opponents with a combined record of 2-24-6 before the Bruins close out the season against Kent Denver and
Colorado Academy (Denver).
To what does Cherry Creek owe this turnaround? Experience, for one thing. The squad had only six seniors on the roster last fall, and though three of those players earned all-state honors in some capacity, the Bruins brought back leading scorer
Amelia McCarthy (16 points) and a host of others.
Cherry Creek has already topped last year's offensive output with 31 goals in eight games, and opposing teams have found the back of the net only four times.
So what programs could potentially stand in the Bruins' way?
Despite the early setback,
Palmer Ridge (8-1-1) has been strong in all facets of the game this fall. Excluding the loss to Cherry Creek, the Bears have allowed only one goal (in a 3-1 victory over Colorado Academy) as junior goalie
Reece Wagers has made 31 saves in nine games. Senior
Jordyn Isner – the team's leading scorer during its 2017 championship run – leads the team with nine goals and eight assists, but 11 players overall have scored at least one goal. Isner's 27 points lead the state, as do her nine assists.
Colorado Academy (5-1-1) hasn't allowed a goal in the five games since the loss to Palmer Ridge, including playing the Bears to a scoreless tie Sept. 11. Senior
Sloane Murphy – the state's only returning first-team all-state player – owns seven goals and five assists, and the play of sophomore
Katherine Merrifield has given the offense a big lift. Merrifield leads the state with 11 goals, and the combination of junior
Madeline Gordon and sophomore
Rebecca Kerr has been strong in goal for the Mustangs.
Colorado Academy next meets up with
Kent Denver (5-1-1), which matched up well with the Bruins in a 1-0 loss Sept. 8. The Sun Devils have won five of six, and senior
Madeleine Hunt is tied with Isner for second in the state with nine goals. Junior
Daisy Sharrow has allowed three goals in seven games.
Like Palmer Ridge and Kent Denver,
Regis Jesuit's only loss came at the hands of the Bruins. The Raiders (5-1-1) have received good balance offensively, with four players (seniors
Ella Brooks,
Elizabeth Dewey and
Hannah Bannec and junior
Lauren Pendergast) combining for 52 of the team's 72 points overall.
The top eight teams make the postseason, which starts Oct. 19. The semifinals take place Oct. 23 at All-City Stadium in Denver, with the state championship following two days later, also at All-City Stadium.
