Seeking victory in its regular season finale Friday evening and hoping for help statewide to perhaps guarantee inclusion in 3A Girls Soccer State Tournament bracket, the Bayfield Lady Wolverines … were left in limbo.
Defeated 3-0 by Grand Junction Central, BHS players and coaches exited Wolverine Country Stadium wondering if there was still hope of postseason play and woke up Saturday morning to see Bayfield wedged right between No. 31 Berthoud and No. 33 Woodland Park in the seeding and selection index. The top 32 teams make the state tournament.
No. 30 Colorado Springs Harrison had sewn up its predetermined slate on Thursday with a 10-0 rout of in-town Tri-Peaks Leaguers Atlas Prep while No. 34 Aspen was to host Carbondale-based Colorado Rocky Mountain School (2A Intermountain-North) on the 4th at 2 p.m.
Having handled business on Thursday versus nonleague Ignacio, Bayfield finished the regular season with a second-place 2-1-3 record in 3A Southwestern League action and standing 6-6-3 overall after the loss to Central (4-8-2 overall, 0-6-2 4A/5A SWL), which hadn’t scored a goal in five matches, including a 4-0 loss at Durango the previous evening.
The Lady Warriors struck twice during the first half and added an insurance goal in the second as BHS couldn’t find the scoring punch which had produced a 9-0 win over IHS in a match often played 8-v-8 on Thursday.
Set up by a corner kick taken by junior Sydney Rey in Thursday’s match against Ignacio, the Lady Wolverines opened the scoring in the second minute as senior Genesis Barrera gained possession and with a pass paralleling the goal line, found senior Preslie Wagner at the opposite post for a 1-0 lead over Ignacio on Thursday.
Wagner then rang a shot off an Ignacio defender in the fourth minute and Barrera converted a seventh-minute Rey corner into BHS’ third goal. Assisted by senior Michelle Kirk, Rey increased BHS’ lead to 4-0 in the tenth minute, then scored again in the 20th. Following a mid-half water break, Bayfield senior Brylee Sampley scored (assisted by senior Lily Lewin) in the 24th minute and the Lady Wolverines coasted into halftime ahead 6-0.
IHS (1-13-0, 1-5-0 2A Intermountain-South) finally logged a shot attempt in the 55th minute, but BHS senior goalie McKenna Noonan scooped up freshman Maliyah Martinez’s shot low and to her left. Literally moments after the second preplanned pause for refreshments, junior Kambrie Byrd grew Bayfield’s lead to 7-0 in the 60th and Rey followed after shooting somewhat reluctantly from 17 yards out after finding no teammates open for a pass in the 71st. She then netted the home team’s last goal in the 78th, assisted by Barrera, who had four assists in the match; Lewin was credited with two).
The Lady Wolverines learn their postseason destination on Sunday.
