Standley Lake hoping to make most of Colorado boys soccer playoff opportunities

In his first year coaching the Standley Lake (Westminster) boys soccer team, Mike Day has seen a little bit of everything.

The Gators put together a strong season, their second in the Class 4A ranks. Headed into the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs Wednesday, Standley Lake earned the No. 11 seed on the strength of 10 victories and a third-place showing in the 4A Jeffco League.

But it hasn't come easy. The Gators (10-5), who open with 22nd-seeded Montrose at 5 p.m. at the North Area Athletic Complex, had to endure a schedule that included a few 5A heavyweights.

"I'm really pleased with the season," Day said. "I think that our team performed tremendously well. If you look at the
5A teams we played, I think we can compete with anybody in the state."

That schedule is one of the reasons why the Gators could make some noise in the 4A bracket. Standley Lake played two of the top three seeds in the 5A field in the first four games of the season – including the season-opener against defending state champion Broomfield.

The Gators stayed with the Eagles before falling 2-1, proving along the way they could be a tough out for any opponent this season.

"I thought they set the standard really high for themselves with that first game," Day said. "There were high expectations after that game."

Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) (12-2) earned the No. 1 seed in the 4A classification and was the only team this season to defeat No. 2 seed The Classical Academy (Colorado Springs) (14-1). Battle Mountain (Edwards), Evergreen and Longmont round out the top five seeds.

The semifinals will take place Nov. 11, with the 4A title game Nov. 14.

Standley Lake won nine games a year ago and dropped a double-overtime decision to Centaurus (Lafayette) in the first round of the playoffs. After a 1-3 start to this season, the team reeled off six consecutive victories that included five shutouts.

The Gators took Evergreen into two overtimes before falling 1-0, and the only other blemish was a 3-1 setback to Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch). The squad did notch a 2-1 triumph over seventh-seeded Littleton, though. Day also noted that the Gators lost standout defender Andres Godinez to a broken jaw in the second half of the loss to Evergreen.

"We still have a senior goalie and three senior defenders," he said. "There's a lot of maturity and a lot of experience back there."

Senior Nick Rosser has been the driving force on offense with 17 goals and 14 assists. Sophomore Weston Short has 10 assists on the season as well.

"Nick is by far the most technical player I've ever coached," Day said. "He's always marked with more than one player, or the other team's best or fastest player. Going back to the senior thing, we have two other senior forwards who are very capable of scoring."

One interesting note regarding the Gators' first-round opponent: A year ago Montrose was the No. 14 seed and upset defending state champion Cheyenne Mountain in the second round before falling to Ponderosa (Parker) in two OTs in the quarterfinals.

Here is a look at the other two classifications headed into the first round of play this week:

Class 5A
A strong showing in the second half of the season secured the Front Range League title for Fairview (Boulder) (12-2-1) and earned the Knights the top overall seed in the 5A bracket.

First-round play gets rolling Thursday. Fairview is one of four FRL teams seeded in the top 10, along with Broomfield (No. 2), Monarch (Louisville) (No. 5) and Boulder (No. 9). Arvada West and Arapahoe (Centennial) are the third and fourth seeds, respectively.

After back-to-back losses midway through the year, Fairview recovered to win its final eight games. The squad had to endure six overtime games this season.

A team to keep an eye on in the 5A field is 13th-seeded Rampart (Colorado Springs) (13-1-1). After winning a combined 16 games in the previous two seasons, the Rams put together an impressive run this fall.

Rampart won its final five games, and its only loss was a 2-1 overtime setback to Pine Creek (Colorado Springs). The team's potential second-round opponent is No. 4 Arapahoe, who the Rams played to a 1-1 tie in the second game of the season.

Senior Zack Fleishhacker has 18 goals on the season, and sophomore Jack McReynolds has 10 goals and seven assists.

Class 3A
It's good to be the defending champion.

After winning it all last November, Kent Denver (Englewood) locked up the No. 1 seed in the 3A field by going unbeaten during the regular season.

The only blemish on the Sun Devils' record was a 1-1 tie with No. 6 seed Fountain Valley (Colorado Springs) on Sept. 19. Kent Denver won its final nine games, taking out five of the bracket's top 12 seeds during that run.
Liberty Common (Fort Collins) earned the No. 2 overall seed in 3A, followed by KIPP Denver Collegiate, Vail Mountain and Pagosa Springs.

Kent Denver's final victory of the season came against a team that is poised to potentially make a run of its own. Ninth-seeded Peak to Peak (Lafayette) (10-5) finished in a three-way tie for second place in Region 6, and overcame a three-game losing streak early in the season to finish strong.

Two of the team's five losses came to top-six seeds in the 4A playoff bracket. The Pumas also dropped a one-goal decision to No. 2 Liberty Common, a double-overtime game to No. 8 Faith Christian (Arvada) and, finally, limited Kent Denver to one goal in a 1-0 defeat.

The bracket could work for or against Peak to Peak. Should the team get past Sterling, a rematch with Faith Christian could be in store in the second round. From there, Kent Denver would possibly be waiting in the quarterfinals.

Senior Nathan Dee leads the Pumas with 13 goals and has seven assists on the season. Three more players have at least 20 points, with senior Blake Bride and junior Miguel Arriaga at nine goals each and sophomore Brendan Lefkowicz sitting at seven goals and eight assists.