ARVADA — It has been just over three weeks since Golden’s boys soccer team has allowed a goal.
The Demons ran their shutout winning streak to five games Tuesday at the North Area Athletic Complex with a 10-0 victory over Conifer.
“The kids are doing really well in terms of keeping the shutout,” Golden coach Jamie Scarcliff said. “We struggled keeping a shutout and scoring early on. Those are things we have really focused on and spending a lot of time on. I’m really pleased with their shot selections, as well on finishing opportunities.”
Golden (5-3-3, 5-1 in Class 4A Jeffco) has outscored its last five conference opponents — Dakota Ridge, Pomona, D’Evelyn, Bear Creek and Conifer — a combined 44-0.
The last goal the Demons surrendered was in a 2-0 loss to Evergreen on Sept. 16.
“I think the kids played really, really well in Evergreen,” Scarcliff said. “When you have 30 some shots and score zero goals, that was probably our best wake-up call when it comes to finishing.”
Golden is averaging nearly nine goals per game during the impressive 5-game winning streak.
“We’ve worked a lot on shooting and finishing, also playing as a team,” Golden senior Milo Messina said of the turnaround since the shutout loss to Evergreen and 0-3-3 start to the season. “We started believing in ourselves. We had a pretty rough start to the season.”
Against the Lobos (4-7, 2-4) on Tuesday, Golden put four goals into the back of the net in the first half. Junior Kieran Baker got things started with a goal in the 4th minute. Senior Levi Rhen scored in the 12th minute on a nice assist from junior Adam Ziegenfuss to put the Demons up 2-0.
Messina scored back-to-back goals in the 21st and 27th minutes to push the lead to 4-0 at halftime. Messina picked up a hat-trick with a third goal in the 61st minute.
Junior Nate Peters picked up a goal early in the second half. Junior Braeden Monte and senior Layton Ward put in a pair into the back of the net in the second half to build on the Demons’ lead.
Ward’s second goal ended the game in the 73rd minute with the Demons hitting the 10-goal mercy rule.
“I set high expectations for the kids. I always have,” Scarcliff said. “We’ve had great finishing and great defending, but I think there are some things in the middle that we still need to do better. Some games we bring that and some games we struggle. We need to put a full game together for when we do play Wheat Ridge in that final (league) game.”
Golden will attempt to extend its winning and shutout streak to six games on the road Friday, Oct. 11. The Demons are at Littleton (2-6-2, 2-3-1).
“None of the teams in our league are going to hand it to us,” Scarcliff said of the remaining league games against Littleton, Standley Lake, Green Mountain and Wheat Ridge. “We have to make sure we come out with our best game every game moving forward.”
Evergreen (9-2, 7-0) and Wheat Ridge (9-0-1, 6-0) are atop the 4A Jeffco League standings with conference play wrapping up Oct. 22.
“We have to take it one game at a time and focus on winning every game we can,” Messina said.
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
