AURORA | Suddenly down a goal late in the first half of their Class 5A girls soccer second round contest to rival Cherokee Trail, the Grandview girls soccer team responded.
The defending state champion Wolves rallied from the rare occasion in which they allowed the first goal of the game with consecutive scores from senior Kacy Johnston and junior Caylin Lyubenko and went on to a 3-1 victory in an all-Aurora matchup Friday night at Legacy Stadium.
Senior Kendra Gipson added an insurance goal with seven minutes left and senior Shalom Prince registered a pair of assists for coach Tari Wood’s second-seeded Grandview team, which won its fifth consecutive postseason contest and moved into the 5A quarterfinals for the fifth straight season.
The Wolves (14-2-1) will play host to No. 7 Chatfield on May 15 at Stutler Bowl as Legacy Stadium is occupied with 5A boys lacrosse semifinal contests.
Coach Jeremy Schaller’s 15th-seeded Cherokee Trail team got the opening goal in the 34th minute when sophomore Clara Heistermann netted her 15th goal of the season with a low strike into the corner.
The advantage lasted just 57 seconds for the Cougars (11-6), however, as Johnston — who scored two goals in Grandview’s win over Horizon in the opening round — bent a beautiful corner kick attempt over the defense and into the back of the net for the tying goal.
Less than two minutes later, Lyubenko — whose goal won last season’s 5A state championship game — gave the Wolves the lead.
Though Grandview senior goalkeeper Madison Livingston only had to make two saves, the Cougars pressured for the tying goal into the late stages of regulation.
Gipson, who missed a large portion of the season due to injury, finished off a rebound of a shot off the crossbar by Prince for the Wolves’ third goal with just over seven minutes left.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(2) GRANDVIEW 3, (15) CHEROKEE TRAIL 1
Score by halves:
Cher. Trail 1 0 — 1
Grandview 2 1 — 3
SCORING
First half
Cherokee Trail — Clara Heistermann, 34th minute
Grandview — Kacy Johnston, 35th minute
Grandview — Caylin Lyubenko (Shalom Prince), 37th minute
Second half
Grandview — Kendra Gipson (Prince), 73rd minute
Grandview saves: Madison Livingston (3 shots on goal-2 saves)