Before going into the 5:00 pm. game on Sept. 11 against the Pomona Panthers, the Wheat Ridge Varsity Soccer team was undefeated with a record of 4-0-1. Pomona, however, handed the Farmers their first loss of the season.

Under the spectacular play of senior forward Ian Spetnagel and senior midfielder Joe Whitney, the Farmers were happy to have carried their 4-0-1 record into the Monday night game against Pomona. Aside from the starting defensive pairing in Carson Capps and Logan Hogge, juniors, being sick and treating a slight ankle injury, the varsity boys came into the game ready to roll.

Jumping right into the game, Wheat Ridge started sophomore goalkeeper Collin Warren to backstop the team in the defensive side of the field. After a quick paced back-and-forth first half, Pomona finally broke the ice after scoring a goal off of a corner kick with 21:05 left until halftime. The rest of the first half continued to be back and forth, as the Panthers took their one goal lead into halftime, causing the Farmers to reflect on their play during halftime.

In an interview with head coach David Osse, he addressed the issues that he saw in the first half: “We talked a lot about our shape on the field during the halftime. We were leaving too many guys open on the outside which resulted in an overall sluggish first half. It was just a matter of us making tactical mistakes that we know how to prevent.”

What was said in the halftime obviously made an impact on the Farmers, as they stormed onto the field for the second half with a lot of energy and determination to get back this deficit. So much energy that they evened up the scoreboard four minutes into the half with a goal from Senior Ian Spetnagel. “Ian had a really strong game and capitalized on his chances very well all day,” said Osse regarding his team captain in Spetnagel.

Although the Farmers came into the second half with power, they were met by Pomona as they answered back to the Farmers’ game tying goal seven minutes after it was scored, giving themselves another one goal lead with the score being 2-1. A quick regroup from Wheat Ridge, the Farmers gained control of the ball right after the Pomona goal, carrying it into their offensive side of the field and keeping it there for three minutes straight when they were halted by a beautiful top-shelf goal from sophomore Vinnie Pomponio.

“Vinnie was running really well and was creating space for himself all game long, which resulted in his goal,” said Osse regarding Pomponio’s goal.

Despite the Farmers hard work in the second half, their work was matched by Pomona, as they tied the game and eventually scored the game-winning goal at the 19:08 of the second half. The Farmers attempted to fight back to get another tying goal, including two back-to-back corner kick attempts in the last minute of the game, but their efforts unfortunately failed.

“We had a really flat first half and started and got ourselves behind and played catch up almost the whole game. We have a good senior group that will hopefully get us back on track in practice tomorrow and help prepare us for our next game on Wednesday,” stated Osse.

After facing their first loss of the season, the Farmers seemed determined to bounce right back and respond against Mullen in their next game on Sept. 13. Coach Osse, Spetnagel, and Whitney will be looked upon to lead the team back on track and make sure they don’t fall too behind.