AURORA | Not much seems to be outside Lauren Holleran’s range when it comes to free kicks.
With her coaches and teammates’ trust behind her, the Grandview senior standout reared back and drilled a lengthy free kick chance near the midway point of the second half of Thursday night’s Centennial League showdown against Cherry Creek.
Holleran’s score held up to be the game-winner — her second in a nine-day span — and junior Lily Newberry added some insurance inside the final two minutes of the Wolves’ strong 2-0 victory over the Bruins at Legacy Stadium.
Coach Tari Wood’s Grandview team (5-0-1, 1-0-1) let a two-goal lead slip away in a 2-2 overtime tie with Arapahoe in its previous game, but rebounded with a strong effort to deal Cherry Creek (4-4-1, 0-1-1) its first loss of the season.
The Wolves broke the scoreless tie when Holleran elected to take a long free kick try after a discussion with fellow senior Lacy Johnston and put it into the back of the net, scoring from a great distance than the free kick she converted in a 1-0 win over Fossil Ridge March 26.
The Bruins turned up the pressure in the final 20 minutes of regulation, but got off only two good shots that Grandview senior goalie Madison Livingston handled on her way to her fourth shutout of the season in six games.
Newberry became the seventh Grandview player to make it into the goal-scoring comment when she raced between a pair of Cherry Creek defenders, stretched out and poked in a long ball from sophomore Reece Wortmann to pad the Wolves’ edge.
Grandview has a big week ahead with three games in a four-span with a home game against Smoky Hill April 9 followed by a road game against Overland April 11 and another on April 12 against traditional powerhouse Mountain Vista in a rescheduled contest.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
GRANDVIEW 2, CHERRY CREEK 0
Score by halves:
Cherry Creek 0 0 — 0
Grandview 0 2 — 2
SCORING
Second half
Grandview — Lauren Holleran, 53rd minute
Grandview — Lily Newberry (Reece Wortmann), 78th minute
Grandview saves: Madison Livingston (2 shots on goal-2 saves)