AURORA | The Grandview girls soccer team faced a deficit in the early minutes of Thursday night’s contest with Eaglecrest at frigid Legacy Stadium, but rallied to win behind a hat trick from Naomi Clark.
The senior striker — the offensive hero of last season’s Class 5A state championship victory for the Wolves — scored the tying goal just past the midway point of the opening half and then notched two of the three second-half scores for coach Brian Wood’s team in a 5-1 win.
Freshman Lexi Yi and senior Crystal Sesma also had goals, sophomore Isabella Rogers recorded two assists and freshman keeper Jaslin Roybal stopped the last six shots she faced as Grandview won for the third time in its past five games and evened its record at 5-5 (3-2 in the Centennial League).
Coach Ashley McKillips’ Eaglecrest team — which opened the season 6-0 — took the lead seven minutes into the contest, but didn’t score again as it dropped to 0-2-1 in its last three games.
Clark had been denied by Eaglecrest junior keeper Hannah Flores shortly before the Washington State signee drilled a rising shot that got just over the hand of a leaping Flores, banged off the bottom side of the crossbar and into the net to tie it in the 22nd minute.
Less than five minutes later, junior Madalyn Hopkins sent a through ball to Yi, who made a run from the back and crossed up Flores from point blank range to break the tie.
The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at Legacy Stadium as Eaglecrest takes on Heritage at 11 a.m. followed by Grandview against Rock Canyon at 1 p.m.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Grandview 5, Eaglecrest 1
Score by halves:
Eaglecrest 1 0 — 1
Grandview 2 3 — 5
Grandview goals: Naomi Clark 3, Crystal Sesma, Lexi Yi. Grandview assists: Isabelle Rogers 2, Sydney Azuero, Madalyn Hopkins. Grandview saves: Jaslin Roybal (7 shots on goal-6 saves)
