DENVER | A capsule preview of the 2019 Class 5A girls soccer state championship game between Grandview and Arapahoe scheduled for May 22, 2019:
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2019 CLASS 5A GIRLS STATE SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
No. 12 Arapahoe (15-3-1) vs. No. 2 Grandview (16-2-1)
May 22, 7 p.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Breakdown: Neither second-seeded Grandview nor 12th-seeded Arapahoe are strangers to playing each other or playing for the Class 5A state championship. As fellow members of the Centennial League, the Wolves and Warriors play annually in the regular season and played to a 2-2 double-overtime tie back in April. Four of the last five games between the teams have gone to double-overtime, resulting in two ties and Grandview golden goal victories in 2015 and 2017. …The Grandview-Arapahoe matchup also took place for the 5A boys soccer title in the fall on the same Dick’s Sporting Goods Park field with the Warriors winning by a goal. …Arapahoe owns the most state soccer championships in Colorado history with nine (with the last win coming in 2006), though Grandview is tied for fourth-most all-time with four and could climb into a tie with Kent Denver for third with a victory this time. …The Warriors play for the state title for the first time since 2017 (when they lost to Mountain Vista), while the Wolves appear in the final for the fourth time in five seasons and won in each of their three previous trips.
ARAPAHOE (15-3-1): Coach Mark Hampshire’s Warriors experienced a lull towards the end of the regular season when they lost three consecutive games (to Heritage, Cherry Creek and Mullen), but got on track with a 10-0 victory over Eaglecrest to close the regular season. Arapahoe posted a 3-0 win over Northglenn to open the postseason in a game it was favored to win, then upset No. 5 Cherry Creek (2-1), No. 4 and previously undefeated Rampart (2-1) and No. 8 Rocky Mountain (3-2) in the subsequent rounds to reach the final. The Warriors have had five different goal scorers in the postseason, with senior F Audrey Weiss and junior F Lauren Walter with three apiece leading the way. Senior M Emma Purcell has three assists to pace her team and senior GK Grace Cadorette has made 25 saves on 29 shots. …For the season, Weiss is the team leader with 18 goals, with Walter next at 12 and eight others own multiple goals. Purcell is credited with a team-best 10 assists, while Weiss dished out nine and Cadorette played the majority of time in the goal and has allowed 10 goals in over 1,000 minutes of play. …Senior F Summer Mock and sophomore D Reagan Bridges scored goals and Cadorette made 10 saves when Arapahoe and Grandview played in the regular season.
GRANDVIEW (16-2-1): Coach Tari Wood’s Wolves suffered a regular season loss for the first times since 2017 when they fell to Mountain Vista in two overtimes on April 12 and they lost again to Class 3A state champion Colorado Academy in the regular season. Since then, Grandview has reeled off six straight victories and sewed up the Centennial League championship with a win over Mullen. The Wolves have won all four of their postseason contests thus far — 4-0 over No. 31 Horizon, 3-1 over No. 15 Cherokee Trail, 3-1 over No. 7 Chatfield and 1-0 over No. 14 Ralston Valley — and now own nine-game playoff winning streak dating back to a semifinal loss on penalty kicks to Mountain Vista to end the 2017 season. Senior M Kacy Johnston and junior M Caylin Lyubenko — whose overtime goal gave Grandview last season’s state title — have each scored three goals in the postseason, while senior F Shalom Prince has two (including the game-winner against Ralston Valley in the semifinals) as does senior F Kendra Gipson, who missed the majority of the season due to injury. Senior D Lauren Holleran has the other goal for the Wolves in the postseason, while Prince has a pair of assists. Senior GK Madison Livingston has yielded just one goal in the playoffs, while she’s made 14 saves, including 11 in the past two games. …For the season, Prince (a University of Oklahoma signee) has a team-high 10 goals, followed by Lyubenko’s nine and six from the Gonzaga-bound Johnston, who is also the team’s assist leader with eight. Livingston has played all but eight of the team’s 1,512 minutes in the net this season and has allowed nine goals with 13 shutouts. …In the first meeting between Grandview and Arapahoe, Johnston scored a goal and assisted on Prince’s tally for a 2-0 lead in the second half before the Warriors got two of their six shots past Livingston to tie it.
