Running full-throttle from near midfield towards Bayfield's bench area to keep the ball in play, Misty Helton's inspiring effort, loudly cheered by her teammates, was almost too good to not pay dividends last Saturday.
Braking upon arrival at the sideline, then quickly re-accelerating forward, Helton's subsequent crossing pass back found Savannah Kaufmann, who'd timed her run perfectly to get behind Telluride's defenders for a 1-v-1 with goalie Whitney Wells.
One of the 3A/2A Intermountain League's best at coming off her line to safely clear potential problems before they become scoring chances for the enemy, Wells made her break and slid towards Kaufmann in hopes of smothering the ball. But Kaufmann angled it far to Wells' right and also avoided the keeper, whose slide accidentally set an obstructing 'pick' on a trailing defender. That allowed Kaufmann to catch up to the ball unchallenged and tap it in the vacated net for a vital 52nd-minute goal.
"We knew that their keeper was playing so far out," said Helton, "and Savannah was there to crash it in!"
"I was really excited," BHS senior Makenna Cowan said. "And, like, relieved that it wasn't going to be a complete shutout; we still had something with us."
Even with a two-goal lead, the Miners weren't leaving anything to chance on their home turf-not with its compressed length and the Wolverines beginning to shoot from farther and farther out, hoping to again catch the aggressive Wells out of position.
"You know you have to work hard," Helton said. "And if you work hard against a tough team and make it hard for them, then I know I did a good job."
But shortly after Kaufmann's conversion made the score 3-1, it became 4-1 when THS sophomore Justus Tudor crept unmarked into freshman Lana McKee's goal box and put a perfect header on senior Mary Lynch's 54th-minute corner kick.
Senior Ava Jodlowski then struck in the 56th from far outside Bayfield's 18, blasting Claudia Betz's set-up past McKee for a 5-1 advantage. Wells - still wearing her goalie jersey - then put the game out of reach with a successful penalty kick in the 67th, finishing what a 20-yard Lynch free kick had started in only the second minute.
"I definitely think we came out a lot harder, knowing that we were playing Bayfield," said Tudor, who also converted a Lynch free kick in the 46th, adding to what had been a 2-0 halftime lead, "and it really helped us."
Unofficially, McKee totaled 18 saves while her counterpart came up with seven. Telluride, which outshot Bayfield 27-12 in all (20-7 on frame), also gained six corners to BHS' one as the Wolverines finished a difficult 2017 standing 5-10 overall, 4-7 against all league opposition and 1-5 against its 3A members.
"Since we have a lot of injured players it made it tougher on us. My left ankle is sprained, I know Taylor (Morris) has to have both of her ankles taped, and a lot of people just have, like, minor injuries, so I really feel like it was mind-over-matter," stated Cowan.
"We proved that with Savannah scoring, and keeping our heads up no matter what was on the scoreboard."
Bound for the Class 2A State Tournament, THS (9-2-1 against the IML, 6-1-1 versus its 2A members) improved to 11-3-1 overall Tuesday after receiving an unusual first-round forfeit over Colorado Springs School (6-8) and will next travel to Littleton to face Front Range Christian (9-6) Friday in the quarterfinals.
