COLORADO SPRINGS — When Cyrus Salehi took over Fossil Ridge girls soccer last year, he saw a program in need in change.
And that’s exactly what Salehi brought to Fossil Ridge, a team that he says lacked an edge before. No more, though: In the battle of the Sabercats on Wednesday at Weidner Field, Fossil Ridge edged Castle View 1-0 in the Class 5A title game to break through for the school’s first girls soccer championship.
“When I took over the program last year, they hadn’t reached past the second round in about 13 years,” Salehi said. “One of the things we wanted to rebuild and rebrand was a gritty, selfless mentality because in the playoffs, talent doesn’t win. Culture, grit and scrappiness wins.
“… This has been a soft, sissified program for too many years. When I came in, what I said was we were going to bring the fight to a lot of players, to a lot of teams. We were going to have grit. We’re going to take teams by surprise because they’re going to think it’s the same Fossil. And we were not.”
The SaberCats from Fort Collins used a header by Teagan Myers late in the second half to fend off the Sabercats from Castle Rock in a well-played showdown between two evenly matched teams making their first title game appearances.
Castle View had the game’s first true scoring chance about 12 minutes in, when Fossil Ridge junior keeper Shay Masters came out to block a shot at the top of the box, and then found herself out of position when Castle View repossessed the ricochet. But the Fossil Ridge defense came up with a couple of key blocks to keep the game scoreless.
Halfway through the first half, Fossil Ridge had its first chance when junior Lily Wale fired a shot from inside the box that went just over the crossbar. Fossil Ridge continued to push the tempo down the stretch of the half, but couldn’t cash in as Castle View sophomore keeper Elly Bowers stood tall and her defense prevented any unobstructed looks.
Both keepers continued to impress early in the second half. Bowers raced up in the box to cut off some would-be chances before they could develop, while on the other end, Masters leapt up and snared a corner kick before it could find a Castle View head.
“I was kind of surprised I came down with it, not going to lie,” Masters said with a laugh. “But that come-up on the cross was probably my best save of the day.”
With 13:07 left, the stalemate was on the cusp of cracking when Castle View was called for a handball in the box. That set Wale up for a penalty kick. Bowers dove right and blocked it, then grabbed the loose rebound before more Fossil Ridge players could swarm in and get their feet on it.
“We have been resilient all year, and it’s been S.U.M.O. — Shut Up, Move On,” Salehi said. “As soon as that (missed PK) happened, I said, ‘Okay. This is our opportunity to get what’s next.’ And we got what’s next.”
Wale had her redemptive moment about six minutes later when her perfectly placed cross found the head of Myers. The senior captain headed it in off the turf, off Bowers’ diving hand and into the net for a 1-0 Fossil Ridge lead with about eight minutes left.
“I had that feeling on that corner that we weren’t going to get many more chances, and I had to make it happen in that moment,” said Myers, a Kentucky commit. “To be able to help solidify this amazing win in a historic moment for our team felt so good.”
Wale, a Washington State commit, said that “as soon as Teagan got a head on it, I knew it was going in.”
A couple of minutes later, Castle View had a great look at an equalizer, but couldn’t put it home. Masters made a diving save off a free kick just outside the box, then Castle View’s Jaya Dern rushed in and kicked the rebound just over the net. The Fossil Ridge defense did the rest to earn the trophy.
“We couldn’t bury chances early on, and momentum switched for about seven minutes in the second half (toward Castle View),” Salehi said. “But we took it back, buried the goal, and holy cow we came to finish the game.”
The victory gave Salehi his second state title as a coach, as he also led Liberty Common to the Class 3A crown in 2018 via an undefeated season.
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