Dakota Ridge rallies from 2-goal deficit to defeat Evergreen

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

LAKEWOOD — Dakota Ridge faced some adversity before the Class 4A girls soccer state tournament begins this week.

e Eagles — No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com rankings — trailed Evergreen 2-0 late in the rst half May 4 at Lakewood Memorial Field. However, Dakota Ridge responded with three unanswered goals to eventually take a 3-2 victory and complete the sweep of the 4A Je co League.

“We just had to work as hard as we can, keep pushing to score and not worry about the goals,” Dakota Ridge sophomore Ava Arnold said of the Eagles’ mindset down two goals late in the rst half. “We wanted to focus on what was going to happen in the future.”

Arnold cut the lead in half with a laser shot from outside the goalie box in the 38th minute. Evergreen (10-5, 5-3 in 4A Je co) still had the lead at halftime with goals by freshman Gianna Weiner (7th minute) and junior Brooke Gimbel (22nd minute), but the lead didn’t last long.

Arnold was taken down in the Cougars’ goalie box in the 44th minute and put the penalty kick into the back of the net to tie the game up 2-2 early in the second half.

Dakota Ridge had trailed 2-0 earlier in the season. e Eagles fell behind to Rampart in a game before Spring Break, only to rally for an identical 3-2 victory.

“We had done it once,” Dakota Ridge senior Bailey Pignatore said of coming back from a 2-goal de cit. “I knew we could do it again.”

Pignatore gave the Eagles (13-1, 8-0) the lead in the 52nd minute on a great ball from Arnold that allowed a run on goal for Pignatore.

“Ava gave me the great feed,” Pignatore said of her 11th goal of the season. “I was just running and knew we needed to score. I was expecting the shot to go over the goalie, but it went in no matter what.”

Dakota Ridge coach John Cassidy had actually just sent a sub to checkin for Pignatore moments before her eventual game-winning goal.

“I knew I just had a certain amount of time to score before I was coming out,” Pignatore said of her sub readying to come in at the next whistle.

Evergreen, who came in playing well with a 4-game winning streak of its own, had a couple of good scoring changes in the nal 10 minutes. However, the Cougars could get a ball past Dakota Ridge senior goalie Kassidy Spencer.

“It feels great, especially since last year we weren’t so successful,” Arnold said of the Eagles going 8-0 in 4A Je co after having a 2-5 league mark in 5A Je co last season. “It feels good that we were successful as a team and playing together to accomplish our goals.”

Matt Heckel — Dakota Ridge Athletic Director — was on hand to present the 4A Je co League title plaque to the Eagles after the victory. Cassidy was quick to give Heckel credit as Dakota Ridge went undefeated in conference play for the rst time since 2011.

“We would not be here if we didn’t have Matt Heckel as our athletic director,” Cassidy said. “I’ve coached for a long time for di erent programs and I’ve never had the kind of support that I’ve had at Dakota Ridge.” e Eagles were slated to face No. 31 e Cougars have been a major factor in the 4A state tournament over the past several seasons. Evergreen has been the 4A state runnerup three times since 2017 under coach Peter Jeans.

Dakota Ridge took the No. 2 seed for the 32-team 4A state tournament.

Palmer Ridge on Wednesday, May 10, in the opening round at Lakewood Memorial Field.

“We can do anything that we put our minds to,” Pignatore said heading to the playo s.

Evergreen is the No. 7 seed and could meet up again with Dakota Ridge in the state quarter nals Tuesday, May 16, if the seeding holds true.

Dennis Pleuss is the sports information director for Je co Public Schools. For more Je co coverage, go to CHSAANow.com.