By Kimberly Cessar

Wheat Ridge’s girls’ varsity soccer came in first on April 18 at the league championship giving them a high spot to begin playoffs.

Coach Kendra Gothard said how proud she is of the girls and couldn’t wait to see what is to come further in the season during playoffs. “All three of our freshmen that made varsity are incredibly strong. They all start and play through the whole game,” Gothard said.
Through all the league games the girls played hard and really fought for their wins. Junior Maddie Bozik said, “The girls are all really connecting this year which helps on the field. Even though we did lose seniors last year, we gained three strong freshmen: starting goalie Abby Bausch and the two starting defenders Alexandra Nillen and Corina Wing.” During the girl’s game on April 18, freshman Nillen scored two goals and passed to junior Carlee Flanagan who then scored a third. Then in the next two league games, Wheat Ridge stomped both Arvada and Alameda with scores 10-0.

With state in the near future, head coach Dan Watkins mentioned, “We have to focus on each game one at a time in order to succeed.”  Their wins against Green Mountain, a top ten team in the nation, and Evergreen put them in a place where they now know they could win playoffs and even state. “Having great seniors that help to lead and organize the rest of the team helps to make us succeed and have a greater chance of winning state,” Watkins adds. The girls soccer team has been to state three times in the past five years. The first two times they won in 2009 and 2010 and the last in 2011 they came in second. The Farmers were able to win their first round game against Discover Canyon 3-2, but fell in the second round to Palmer Ridge 1-0. Overall, it was still a great season for these girls!