Girls Soccer: Windsor & Evergreen heading to the Class 4A state championship

LAKEWOOD — The defending Class 4A girls soccer state champions will attempt to find the magic to win back-to-back state titles against the Wizards of Windsor next week.

No. 3-seeded Windsor and top-seeded Evergreen will square off in the 4A title game at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at Switchbacks’ Weidner Field in Colorado Springs.

No. 3 Windsor 2, No. 10 Rampart 0

In the first of two 4A semifinals Thursday night at Trailblazer Stadium, the speed of Windsor sophomore Tatum Gentry was too much for Rampart to handle.

Gentry scored goals in the 30th and 57th minutes to lift Windsor to a 2-0 victory over the No. 10-seeded Rams.

“In any sport speed kills,” Windsor coach Mike Lordemann said. “Speed is the ultimate piece. You can watch it on tape all you want, but until you see it in person it’s just different. She was sensational.”

Windsor scored the lone goal in the first half. Gentry was able to dodge past Rampart freshman goalie Joslyn Tronnes in the 30th minute and ease the ball into the empty net in for the 1-0 lead.

Gentry admitted she was surprised that she eventually had a completely open net on her first goal.

“Their keeper is good and confident enough to come out,” Gentry said of her first goal. “It is one of those that you just need to go for it and believe in yourself. I was able to make the touch around her and put it in.”

Gentry put the game away midway through the second half with a breakaway goal where she beat Tronnes again.

“It feels amazing,” Gentry said of the Wizards getting into the championship game. “I’m just excited to go. I’m ready.”

Gentry has scored a pair of goals in each Windsor’s quarterfinal and semifinal victories.

No. 3 Windsor (16-3 record) will attempt to win its second state title in the program’s history when it heads to the 4A title game Tuesday, May 20, in Colorado Springs. The Wizards won the 4A girls soccer championship in 2018.

“We’ve kind of used the mantra of ‘stack another day’. That is what they have done,” Lordemann said. “These girls deserve to be in that championship match.”

A season ago Windsor was the No. 3 seed, but lost to eventual 4A state champion Evergreen in the second round.

“I don’t know if it is redemption because this team is just so different than any other team I have ever coached in my 30-plus years,” Windsor coach Mike Lordemann said. “It doesn’t really ride any roller coast of emotion, highs and lows.”

No. 1 Evergreen 3, No. 4 Lutheran 1

Evergreen wasted no time in getting out ahead of Lutheran in the nightcap at Trailblazer Stadium on the way to a 3-1 victory.

“We had great mentality. I think we’re the better team. We proved that,” Evergreen coach Peter Jeans said. “We scored early and had a lot of chances. We buried the third goal. It was a convincing win.”

The Cougars scored twice in the opening 20 minutes in a rematch of the 4A state championship game a year ago that Evergreen won 2-0.

Junior Nadia Leunig had a perfect centering pass to senior Lucia Spungin in the 3rd minute to give the Cougars (16-1-2 record) the early lead.

“That is exactly what we needed was an early goal to get the game started off on the right foot,” Spungin said. “It was just a beautiful cross and I happened to be there. I feel like anyone could have touched that into the goal.”

Spungin’s 11th goal of the season was just the start for the Cougars. A corner kick by junior Gianna Weiner connected with freshman Izzy Clark, who headed the ball just under the cross bar to give the defending 4A state champions a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute.

“We defintely had a better start than Dakota Ridge,” Weiner said referring to the 1-0 overtime victory in the quarterfinals against the Cougars’ 4A Jeffco League rival. “We knew coming out after Dakota Ridge that we needed a better start. We focused on high energy.”

Another corner kick from Weiner in the 50th minute found the head Leunig for a 3-0 lead for Evergreen.

Lutheran (13-4-1) did end the shutout bid in the 57th minute with a goal by freshman Brynlee Booher, but the Lions would get no closer.

The game didn’t end smoothly for Evergreen. Leunig, who had been yellow carded late in the first half, received a second yellow card with 3:31 remaining in the game.

Lutheran had fouled sophomore Elle Buenning to give the Cougars a free kick. Leunig took the free kick, but the center official said he hadn’t blown the whistle to restart play. He yellowed carded Leunig for delaying the restart.

The second yellow card met Leunig was then red carded. If the red card is upheld, one of the Cougars’ key players would be suspended for the state championship game.

“She is obviously a key player on our team,” Weiner said of Leunig. “It is going to take all of us united. I know it is possible, but it’s just super unfortunate time for that to happen.”

Leunig has 10 goals and 13 assists on the season, along with four playoffs goals in the Cougars last three games.

“She is such a big part of our team,” Spungin said of Leunig. “We really love her.”

Evergreen will head into the state championship game on an 11-game winning streak. The Cougars have allowed just one goal in eight straight games. Windsor will also come into Tuesday’s showdown with an 11-game winning streak.

“We won’t discount Windsor for sure,” Spungin said.

No matter what happens with the Leunig situation, Jeans was clear on his team’s focus and determination.

“We plan to prepare and win the game,” Jeans said of the title game.