DENVER — Isa Winton, ThunderRidge’s leading scorer in the regular season, was shut out through the first three games of the postseason.
Maybe fittingly, her drought ended in a wet mess at CIBER Field at the University of Denver Thursday night.
Now, the Grizzlies will look to end another streak next week — looking for their first soccer title since 2002.
Winton scored twice and 10th-seeded ThunderRidge beat No. 14 Fairview 2-0 in a rainy Class 5A semifinals, setting up a final between the Grizzlies and No. 17 Rock Canyon next Thursday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Field.
“I guess I was just feeling it today,” Winton said. “Finally on grass. And the rain was kind of nice, too. I just played it to my advantage and had a team behind me to help.”
In the 31st minute, Winton slid across two defenders with one touch in front of the box, freezing Fairview keeper Alyson Campbell with a blitzing chance into the top left corner of the net.
It was her first goal since May 5.
The senior doubled the lead in the 42nd, scoring in between a pile of players inside the box.
Sister Becca Winton then protected the lead with multiple saves in the final 20 minutes, including a series of them on three consecutive corners.
“They are super tenacious and they work really hard,” Fairview coach Steve Griggs said of the Grizzlies. “Part of our DNA was being the hardest working team on the field. They outworked us in that first half.”
Fairview (13-5-1) had won six straight coming in, not allowing a goal since April 25.
ThunderRidge (15-3-1) began the season 2-3, which included a five-goal loss to Fossil Ridge in its opener, only to win its next 11 heading into next week’s final.
It tied the Jaguars 1-1 on April 11.
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Rock Canyon 2, Heritage 1 (penalty kicks)
Coming into the postseason, the girls soccer program at Rock Canyon hadn’t had the spring season it envisioned, finishing fourth in the 5A/4A Continental League after winning it in each of the previous four seasons.
The postseason has been a “revenge tour”, the Jaguars proudly say.
Ava Todd scored the walk-off winner in penalty kicks at CIBER Field at the University of Denver as No. 17 Rock Canyon beat the final single-digit seed in the 5A bracket, No. 4 Heritage, to punch its ticket into the finals for the second time in three seasons.
The Jags will face ThunderRidge at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park next Thursday night.
“This season didn’t really go as planned,” said Todd, whose winner deflected off the Heritage goalie’s outstretched hands and wiggled across the goal line. “We got seeded 17 and we’ve beat the teams we lost to in these playoffs.”
Paisley Barela tied things up for the Jags late in regulation, answering Kayla Truong’s goal from earlier in the second half.
The win came two weeks after they lost to the Eagles 2-0 in league play.
It was the third straight postseason game the Jags beat a team they’d lost to in the regular season, upsetting No. 1 Fossil Ridge and No. 9 Pine Creek the previous two rounds.
