Sometimes being cast in the role of favorite can be a heavy burden. For most of the players on the
Colorado Academy (Denver) field hockey team, it's all they know.
Such is life when you haven't lost in almost two years.
The Mustangs (16-0) will be pursuing their second-straight championship tonight against
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) and carry a 34-game streak of invincibility into the contest (7 p.m., All City Stadium).
After losing the 2011 title game to Kent Denver, the Mustangs went 16-0-2 last season en route to a championship win against Palmer Ridge.
Cherry Creek finally got to celebrate a win over KentDenver and now will look to do the same againstColorado Academy.
Photo by Cynthia Betancourt
Unblemished and untied in 16 games this season, top-seeded Colorado Academy would have to be upset by the No. 3 Bruins to prevent the transportation of more championship hardware back to 3800 S. Pierce.
"We've been very good about being focused on ourselves," Colorado Academy coach Daan Polders said. "I'm always very confident that we can come out fairly well."
Polders took over at the outset of last season and promptly guided the Mustangs to their first championship since 1997, the first year the Colorado High School Activities Association sanctioned the sport.
No dropoff occurred this season, with players such as
Julia Murphy (12 goals, 11 assists),
Sterre Van Ede (10 and 16) and
Henley Hall (11 and five) have been standing out on the offensive end, while senior
Mandy Weeks has been among those who have played well on the defensive end.
Weeks netted the deciding penalty shot in last season's championship game. Goalie
Railey Zantop-Zimlinghaus, meanwhile, has permitted only seven goals all season while appearing in all 16 games.
The Mustangs' crescendo — to this point, anyway — was their 7-2 whitewash of Palmer Ridge in the semifinals Wednesday night. It was a game in which Polders said "Everything came together.
"We're peaking in areas of, not just being really skillful, but mental toughness and et cetera, et cetera," Polders said.
Colorado Academy defeated Cherry Creek 3-1 in the teams' lone meeting Sept. 25, with Murphy,
Jillian Christensen and sophomore
Maddie Webster notching goals. Polders doesn't believe the earlier contest will have significant bearing on the title game, whether as a psychological edge for his squad or a revenge-fueling outing for Cherry Creek.
"Yes and no," Polders said. "No because it was a game that was played at the end of September, so it was a while ago, and in the meantime we've become a better team and so has Cherry Creek.
"But of course you're looking for consistency from what you didn't do in the past. You ask, are they still doing those things? And you try to prepare for that. It's always a tough one against them."
Cherry Creek is roaring into the title game on the momentum of finally getting past Kent Denver. Prior to the 1-0 win over Kent in the semifinals, the Bruins had gone 0-1-1 against the Sun Devils in the regular season.
Livvy List scored the goal that sent Cherry Creek to the championship game, a first-half tally that stood up as goalie Casie Hilyard preserved the shutout with some key saves in the latter stages.
"We started with two new goalies this year and they had never put pads on," Cherry Creek coach Ashley Thompson told CHSAANow. "They are here for their team and they've learned a ton and worked very hard. Hopefully they'll keep learning until the end."
Cherry Creek had lost to Kent Denver 3-1 on Oct. 10 and played to a 1-1 draw on Sept. 17.
"I think it made us that much more hungry," Thompson said. "We did not want to lose, having been beaten by them. But we also learned from the technical mistakes that we had made when we played them before."
Now, on Monday, the Bruins will be aiming to avenge another regular-season loss.
