COLORADO SPRINGS — A group of Colorado Academy players shouted for their coach to come take a photo with some Mustangs fans in the first row at Switchbacks Stadium.
Sean Stedeford knew it was a setup, but he was ready to play his part. It was time for the ice water bath, a punctuation on back-to-back Class 3A state championships for the Mustangs girls soccer team.
Colorado Academy overcame one fleeting moment of hope for the upstart Timnath Cubs in a 3-1 victory in Tuesday night’s title game, cementing its place as the dominant 3A team in the state.
“It’s just the fight in our program,” said junior forward Lyla Kocher, who set up the first two goals and scored on a highlight-reel strike. “It’s our ability to work as a team. We just get after it each and every day. It translates in the games.”
The Mustangs dropped their first match of the year to 5A Arapahoe before finishing the season on a 17-0-2 run. Timnath’s goal with 23:36 remaining in the second half was the only goal Colorado Academy allowed over four state tournament matches.
After more than 55 minutes of one-way traffic, freshman Adelyn Clemmer scored on Timnath’s first threatening move of the night. The 11th-seeded Cubs knocked off the other two top-three teams in 3A during a Cinderella run to their first state final appearance.
Before anyone had time to contemplate a potential upset, Kocher set up senior Loghan Meisner for her second goal of the night 16 seconds later to restore the lead.
“These girls have been really good this year about not getting too high or too low,” Stedeford said. “It was just a moment for them to reset. As a coach, you can’t ask for a better response.”
Colorado Academy’s ability to both keep the ball on the turf, pass through the Timnath defense, and also win the ball back in the midfield meant the Mustangs were constantly pressuring the Cubs defense.
Timnath junior goalkeeper Sara Swenson made double-digit saves for the third straight game, doing what she could to keep her club in the match. The Cubs, led by first-year coach Tyler Arko, have only two seniors on the roster and may not be the plucky underdogs next season.
“Oh my gosh, (Swenson) is so good,” Kocher said. “We watched some film on her, and I was getting nervous. I went out and shot a little bit more before this game, because she’s incredible.”
Kocher led the team in goals and assists coming into this contest. When senior Celina Frenz wasn’t dancing through defenders to create pressure, Kocher’s ability to find Meisner darting in from the left wing was the codebreaker against a valiant effort from Timnath.
And that extra shooting paid off. After Kocher collected her 21st and 22nd assists of the year, her 28th goal, to give Colorado Academy a 3-1 cushion with 20:42, was a wonder strike with her off foot from nearly 30 yards out.
“I don’t know — I didn’t think it was going in, but it sunk in there,” Kocher said. “Nothing but happiness.”
While Timnath is a relative newcomer at this stage, Colorado Academy is now 35-1-2 in the past two seasons. The Mustangs have seven state titles — tied for the second-most in any division — and five since 2014.
They’re going to need new jerseys again next year, to add a seventh star on the sleeve.
“It’s not ever about one team,” Stedeford said. “It’s really focused on what it means to be a program. A program has a set of standards and expectations. We coach to how people set the standard before them, and it’s your job to maintain it and set it for the next group.”
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