Likely playing its finest soccer this spring, albeit not in time to push them into the postseason, Bayfield High School girls soccer team needed one more goal during the last 20 minutes of their 2026 finale Saturday afternoon to close out their campaign with two wins and as many draws within seven days.
But when Alamosa freshman Maren Formisano scored in the 69th minute and sophomore Ginger Rockcastle followed suit in the 70th, Bayfield’s hopes to shock the CHSAA Class 3A State Tournament-bound side were smashed as the Mean Moose (8-5-0 overall, 4-2-0 3A Intermountain) made off with a 3-1 road victory closing the book on BHS (3-10-2, 0-5-1).
“Makes me teary-eyed because … my last day,” Bayfield senior goalkeeper Lily Muir said. “But I definitely think the end-of-season push is sometimes when a team plays best, in my opinion, because we’ve grown so much together and built that bond and chemistry.”
The Wolverines shifted into an extra gear the previous evening when, after 2A Telluride sophomore Tula Emerick’s 14th-minute cleanup of freshman Luciana du Toit’s shot had given the guests a lead which lasted into halftime, Shipman literally bodied sophomore Grace Brown’s 51st-minute corner past THS freshman backup goalie Gretchen Rosen.
“It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders,” said Muir. “At the beginning of the season we could barely get the ball up in the air on corners, and then we make it to the second-to-last game of our season and … make a goal! Pretty outstanding.”
Running onto and volleying in a great cross from senior Elodie Prohaska, THS freshman Griffin Bain’s apparent go-ahead goal in the 64th was disallowed by an offside violation, and Shipman later chased down junior Jacqueline Boyce’s long forward pass in the 77th to finish a breakaway and net what ended up being the winning goal.
“I got confidence from that first goal in Telluride – I wanted to do it again,” said Shipman, referring to her goal in BHS’ 7-1 away loss back on March 28. “And I just really tried to have more confidence because I knew (Telluride would) think that maybe I’d score, but I just tried to run as fast as I could. And it worked; Jackie had played a really good ball and I just knew I had to score on that one. I didn’t want to tie this game.”
But against Alamosa, a tie would have been at least palatable – especially after AHS senior Araceli Molina tracked down a pass glancing off Lady Wolverine freshman Rose Baxter’s head and gave AHS a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. But with Muir otherwise doing her part in net and Bayfield as a whole often bending but refusing to break, halftime commenced with the Mean Moose still up by just a goal.
Able to draw freshman goalie Kylie Cantu off her line, Shipman almost equalized in the 60th minute. But though the keeper blocked her shot, the ball bounced away and straight to Boyce for a successful volley tying the IML match at 1-1. Muir then inspired the Wolverines even more to fight until the finish by diving to her right and denying AHS junior Leah Higareda a 66th-minute penalty kick.
Muir then smothered Alamosa’s ensuing corner, resulting from her unsecured save, and the contest – as well as BHS’ campaign – would come down to the final 14 minutes on a sunny Saturday inside Wolverine Country Stadium.
“I was a little hungrier at the end of the season … really put it all, left it all on the field,” Shipman said. “No regrets was the goal.”
