Soccer Demons earn playoff berth

Buena Vista advanced to the Class 2A soccer playoffs with two wins and a tie last week while not allowing a goal.

The Lady Demons (9-4-1) drew the No. 10 seed and will face No. 7 Loveland Classical School (11-3) in Denver.

The Lady Demons concluded the regular season Saturday by posting a double-overtime shutout at Lamar that ended in a 0-0 tie in a game that saw 26 shots in the direction of the goal.

BVHS tallied 9 shots on the Lamar goal and keeper Dixie Morgan tallied 9 saves in the net for BV.

“Charlotte (Apodaca) continues to be an amazing leader for our defensive line, making it very difficult for teams to break us down defensively,” BVHS coach Kinsey Bowdle said.

On the other side of the pitch, “We had four games in a week, the weather was really hot, we had limited subs and ultimately didn’t finish the chances that we had,” Bowdle said. “The girls worked incredibly hard and I was really proud of them for pulling out the tie.”

Thursday, Buena Vista scored three second-half goals to beat St. Mary’s 3-0 at home.

“We made a few adjustments at halftime that allowed us to be more attacking minded and the girls did an excellent job finishing their chances in the second half,” Bowdle said.

Alex Baird scored a pair of goals, Aleah Urbine had a goal and an assist and Evelyn Hachmann an assist.

Dixie Morgan had 2 saves in 50 minutes in goal and Catie Morgan 3 saves in 30 minutes in goal.

Against Trinidad at home Friday, BV recorded 8 shots on goal and scored seven times in a 7-0 win. The Lady Demons took a total of 37 shots.

“We created a lot of chances against Trinidad and struggled to find the back of the net on most of our shots,” Bowdle said. “We are continuing to hone our ability to finish well when we create opportunities as we move into the postseason.”

Urbine led BVHS with 2 goals, Baird, Ava Mueller, Madeline Litvay, Cora Dewalt and Peyton Crites scored goals and Lila Phillips, Baird, Hachmann and DeWalt had assists. Catie Morgan recorded 2 saves in goal.

Playoffs bound

Did the double-overtime game to end the season at Lamar tax the team?

“I think it was good mental preparation for this coming week,” Bowdle said. “All the games in the playoffs will be high intensity and playing against Lamar in those conditions really helped us prepare physically and mentally.”

Kailey Hillgass (No. 10) leads Loveland Classical with 19 goals and 11 assists to lead a high-powered offense that averages 6.3 goals a game.

“We are working on preparing for Loveland Classical, our knowledge of their team is limited because we don’t play the same opponents all season,” Bowdle said.

The game will be played at Denver Christian beginning at 5:30 p.m., Friday. No. 2 Denver Christian hosts No. 15 Addenbrooke Classical Academy at 3:30 p.m., Friday with the winners playing Saturday at noon.