AURORA | The Regis Jesuit girls soccer team suffered just four losses in its outstanding 2016 season and nemesis Arapahoe accounted for two of them.
The Warriors’ 3-0 win when the teams met in April in the regular season didn’t hurt all that much, but Arapahoe’s second victory really hurt. The 14th-seeded Warriors posted a 3-2 victory over the third-seeded Raiders in a Class 5A girls state soccer second round playoff game Friday evening at Lou Kellogg Stadium.
Sophomore Abby Kassal and senior Kyleigh Crist scored goals for Regis Jesuit, but coach Will Cropper’s team couldn’t overcome a two-goal deficit in the second half. The Raiders, who won the first Continental League championship for the first time in school history, finished their season 11-4-1 overall.
Arapahoe advanced to play sixth-seeded Mountain Vista — which knocked out another Aurora team with a 1-0 victory over 11th-seeded Cherokee Trail — in the 5A quarterfinals on May 18. Grandview is the lone city team still alive in the final eight, as the defending state champion Wolves blanked Doherty 8-0.
Warriors’ forward Danielle Babb proved a thorn in Regis Jesuit’s side in the opening half, as the sophomore forward scored twice to send her team into halftime with a one-goal edge.
Babb scored first less than eight minutes into the game after a sequence in which Raiders goalkeeper Emily Griffith denied her with a big save, only to see Babb hit the goal post with a shot second later and then put in her own rebound.
Kassal got a head on Crist’s free kick for the equalizer with just 6:42 left in the opening half, but a 2-on-1 for Arapahoe turned into Babb’s most damaging goal. With just 30 seconds left in the opening half, Babb put a ball past Griffith, who had come off her line to cut off the attack.
Senior Kelsey Vogel upped Arapahoe’s lead to two goals with just 13 minutes remaining until Crist gave the Raiders life with another goal to make it a one-goal game. That would be as close as Regis Jesuit would get.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(14) ARAPAHOE 3, (3) REGIS JESUIT 2
Score by halves:
Arapahoe 2 1 — 3
Regis Jesuit 1 1 — 2
SCORING
First half: Arapahoe — Danielle Babb; Regis Jesuit — Abby Kassal (Kyleigh Crist); Arapahoe – Babb (Camryn MacMillan)
Second half: Arapahoe — Kelsey Vogel; Regis Jesuit — Crist
Arapahoe saves: Kali Barber (6 shots on goal-4 saves). Regis Jesuit saves: Emily Griffith (8 shots on goal-5 saves)