Field hockey: Colorado Academy tops Regis Jesuit for first title since 2019

GREENWOOD VILLAGE – It took two goals for Colorado Academy to beat Regis Jesuit to win the 2019 state field hockey championship, so the Mustangs knew they had to get at least that.

It took them just over 30 minutes of regulation, but they got those two goals. And they turned out to be enough. The Mustangs held the lead to beat the Raiders 2-0 to win their first field hockey state title since 2019.

“I’ve done it twice in lacrosse and I’ve been lucky enough to have a great program, but this just felt even better,” junior Zoe Martin said.

The wait in between championship runs was too long in the eyes of the team, but that made the victory all the sweeter. It’s the seventh state championship in program history and sixth since 2012. That makes the Mustangs the most dominant field hockey program in the last decade.

“We were just talking about how we celebrated quite well last year (after finishing second),” coach Veronica Scott said. “It’s just so nice to be on this side of it this year. You know how it is when you know how the opponent feels and what they’re going through right now. I have so much respect for (Regis) because we’ve been there, but this is the better side to be on.”

It caps a remarkable season for the program as the Mustangs (18-1 overall) dropped just one game all year. It wasn’t to Regis Jesuit, the team that beat them a year ago in the state title game, but to Cherry Creek back on Aug. 30.

The Mustangs have been perfect since then, which is difficult considering the amount of talent that resides in the top tier of teams throughout the state.

“With Colorado field hockey in general, you have that top six, well what’s so positive now is that you have a top eight,” Scott said. “You have to fight to get here.”

They took control of the game about midway through the second quarter when Addie Chandler tipped a shot by Regis Jesuit goalie MaryKate Berg. But knowing how tough the Raiders (13-3-2) have been in recent years, the Mustangs knew that one goal wasn’t going to do it.

“A 1-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in field hockey,” Chandler said. “If the other team scores, they get more momentum than you do. We really had to buckle down.”

Martin pushed the lead to 2-0 in the opening minutes of the third quarter which gave the Mustangs a huge sense of relief. A two-goal lead in the second half of a state championship state is much more reassuring.

“We were hoping to get another one,” Martin said. “We wanted the cushion of having two goals. We wanted to score off a corner and we wanted to get another one.”

Scott admitted that she would have preferred a three-goal lead before feeling safe, but with the way the Colorado Academy defense was playing and the way goalie Jessica Lapidus turned away shot after shot, two goals started feeling safe as time ticked off the clock.

And when everything struck zero, the Mustangs went crazy and the student section flooded the field in celebration. And with good reason. Having waited three years for this moment, the Mustangs immediately started partying like it was 2019.