Evergreen and Golden punch their tickets to Class 4A girls lacrosse title game

ENGLEWOOD — Never doubt the heart of the champion.

Evergreen’s girls lacrosse team held a sub-.500 record when it entered the Class 4A state tournament as the No. 4 seed. However, the Cougars are the 2-time defending state champions and know how to win in the postseason under longtime coach Rachel Sanford.

“This team had a lot of heart,” Sanford said after the Cougars knocked off No. 1 and previously undefeated Battle Mountain 17-12 in the first of two 4A state semifinals Wednesday night at Randy Penn Memorial Stadium at Englewood High School. “We are excited to compete again. It has been on our radar all year.”

The Cougars (9-7 record) are one victory away from three consecutive 4A state titles. Something that even senior standout Ryn Gardner doubted would be the case this season.

“I’m actually so excited. The season has been crazy for us,” Gardner said about the opportunity to 3-peat. “I’ve never been in this position before because we’ve been so dominate in the past few years. I really wasn’t expecting it this year. That would be the best way to finish my senior year.”

Gardner — 79 goals on the season — would like to add a third state title to her resume before heading to play lacrosse for the University of Colorado next year.

Evergreen will face league rival and No. 2 Golden (16-2) in the championship match at 5 p.m. Friday night at Peter Barton Stadium on the University of Denver campus. It is guaranteed that a Jeffco school will win the 4A title for the fifth time over six seasons that the 4A classification was added.

Battle Mountain (16-1) had defeated Evergreen 17-9 on May 1 in the middle of a 3-game losing streak the Cougars had entering the state tournament. However, it was a completely different script Wednesday night.

Evergreen pounced out to a 7-1 lead in the first quarter.

“It was incredible,” Gardner said. “(Battle Mountain) has had such an awesome season. I don’t think they have experience that quite yet. It was a huge momentum kick. I think the difference in the game was that first quarter.”

Gardner had four goals in the first quarter on her way to a game-high eight tallies. Juniors Addison White, Riley Carlin and freshman Charlee Hood all scored in the first quarter for the Cougars.

“Our game plan was to score early and score fast,” Sanford said. “Battle Mountain was 16-0 and hadn’t been behind a whole lot. That was a way to get to them.”

Battle Mountain chipped Evergreen’s lead down to 7-4 at halftime and cut it down to 14-12 with 3:36 left in the game, but the Cougars scored the final three goals to seal the victory. Hood came up big with three goals in the final quarter.

“She (Hood) has been absolutely huge,” Gardner said of the freshman. “People don’t really expect her. She is an amazing left-handed attacker that we really haven’t had a lefty attacker before. It gives us a different look.”

Defensively, the Cougars changed some things up from their first meeting and freshman goalie Rae Pegues was solid in net.

“We really overhauled our defense and watched a lot of film to see what we needed to do,” Sanford said of the adjustments facing Battle Mountain for the second time in less than two weeks.

Evergreen already has three titles — 2021, 2024 and 2025 — during its impressive run heading into Friday night’s final against Golden. The Demons defeated Evergreen 18-11 in league play back on April 23.

Golden 11, Cheyenne Mountain 8

Golden made it an all-Jeffco final for the second straight season by also getting out to a quick start against the No. 6-seeded Cheyenne Mountain Red-Tailed Hawks in the night-cap.

The No. 2 Demons got out to a 7-2 lead at halftime and never looked back, taking a 11-8 win to punch their ticket to the championship game.

“I’m excited for the kids,” Golden coach Robby McClure said about the Demons advancing the program’s first championship game. “I came here six years ago and tried to build culture and stability. It is paying off.”

Junior Danae Major had a hat-trick and sophomore Tatum Pyatt scored four goals to lead Golden’s offense. Cheyenne Mountain was clearly focused on shutting down Golden’s leading scorer in junior Katie Hufford (47 goals), but the Demons showed their depth.

“We have so many great players,” Pyatt said. “It’s easy to work together and get good goals.”

Hufford eventually scored on the fourth quarter. Senior Abigail Butters added a goal and freshman Lila Rodriguez had a pair of goals. Golden did suffer a big loss with freshman Brooklyn Meurer (37 goals) suffering a season-ending knee injury in the Demons’ regular-season finale, but the loss didn’t derail Golden’s playoff run.

“We are deep at all levels and the kids understand that,” McClure said. “They aren’t selfish.”

Freshman goalie Bethany Knoedler was strong in net, including saving two breakaway chances for the Red-Tailed Hawks (12-6).

“It means so much because we’ve worked so hard this season,” said Pyatt, who was named the MVP of the 4A West League. “The hard work has paid off. This is everything that we wanted and we wanted it really bad.”

The task ahead for Golden is to end Evergreen’s run of state championships.

“I’m excited to get back at it against Evergreen coming up. Rachel is a great coach as we all know,” McClure said of the all-Jeffco final. “Ryn is just impossible to stop. You have to work your game plan around it, but we’ll be ready. We are familiar with them, just like they are familiar with us. I’m excited to go to state.”