COLORADO RAPIDS WOMEN CAN CLINCH MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH WIN OVER COLORADO PRIDE

Photo Credits - Colorado Rapids Women Media

It's simple, really.

All the unbeaten Colorado Rapids Women must do to clinch the Mountain Conference championship is beat Colorado Pride on Sunday, July 11. The Rapids Women enter Sunday's home and season finale at Stermole Soccer Stadium on the campus of Colorado School of Mines with 19 points – six points clear of second-place Pride.

"We know they are going to be ready for us," Peter May, Rapids Women head coach, said. "We expect they are going to make it incredibly difficult for us to play the way we like to."

PREVIOUS MATCHUPS

The two teams first met on May 23 for the Rapids Women season opener and Pride’s second match as the Rapids handed Pride their first loss in a 3-2 barnburner.  Bucknell University sophomore midfielder Abby Gearhart bagged a brace and University of Denver freshman forward Riley Baker tallied for the Rapids in the win.  Forwards Crissy Tafoya and Sydney Lasater each had a goal for Pride.

"We dug ourselves quite a hole in that game," AJ Adcock, Colorado Pride head coach, said. "They got two early goals. We managed to pull ourselves back into the game. There were missed penalty kicks. It was crazy. In the end, the hole was just too deep, and they were just too good of a team for us to claw all the way back." 

The only blemish on the Rapids 7-1-0 record this season was a 2-2 draw versus cross-town rival, Colorado Rush. As it stands right now, the Rapids Women will only play nine of the ten scheduled games due to the June 19 match at the Utah Red Devils being postponed due to bad weather. The Rapids Women had beaten the Red Devils 8-1 at home a week earlier. May said they will make up the match if they need the points.

"Hopefully, we can take care of things on Sunday and not have to worry about it," May said. "But it's nice to know we have a second chance if we need it."

COLORADO RAPIDS WOMEN

Joining the WPSL with a decade-long history, the Rapids Women finished their inaugural season in 2019 second in conference, just three points behind the conference champions Utah Royals FC Reserves, with an eight-win and two-loss record.

"We're lucky, the club has invested a good amount of effort and resources into this program," May said. "There is such a good history of good youth players in Colorado, especially on the girl's side. We offer them a place to play after they have gone away to play in college. They see the level of competition in training and in games and want to be around that because it makes them better players when they go back to their college teams."

The Rapids Women are led by captain, Natalie Beckman who is entering her senior year at the University of Denver. Beckman tallied 10 goals and 14 assists in the pandemic-altered 2020 season and was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Year, Summit League All-Tournament Team, Summit League First Team, United Soccer Coaches All-West Region First Team, and CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team.

"No one has been more dedicated than Natalie," May said. "She is just consistently good for us, always causing the other team problems, always willing to fill whatever attacking roll we need that day."

The Rapids Women midfield is anchored by Duke junior Sarah Piper who left her home in Texas in her senior year of high school to play for the Rapids elite youth team along with various U.S. youth national teams and Rice University junior Shiloh Miller.

In a team built around extremely high-level college-aged players, forward Addie Whitehouse and defender Heather Gilchrist, both still youth players in the Rapids organization, have not only managed to break into the first team, but have become regular starters for the Rapids Women.

"It's really hard to come in as a 15, 16, 17-year-old and be asked to play at a level where you are playing against people like Sarah [Piper], who plays in the ACC every week," May said. "It's a whole different level. You can see in just this short of time how they [Whitehouse and Gilchrist] have grown as players."

COLORADO PRIDE

Based in Colorado Springs, the Pride established a women's team in 2014 but joined the WPSL ahead of the 2021 season and is working to establish a culture based on commitment and hard work.

Pride is 5-1-2 entering Sunday's match at the Rapids Women, having lost to the Rapids early in the season and falling 5-1 to the Utah Arrows SC the day after drawing the Utah Red Devils 1-1 in sweltering heat – both matches we on the road.

"That was a really tough trip for us," Adcock said. "We could have used some of the points we left on the table there."

Pride is a mixture of current and graduated collegiate players as well as youth players including high school seniors, Sydney Lasater and Crissy Tafoya. Tafoya leads the club in scoring with six goals and both Lasater and Tafoya scored versus the Rapids earlier in the season.

"We know we are capable of scoring goals," Adcock said. "What Sunday will come down to is whether we can keep them from scoring more goals than we do. We should put on a really good show for anyone watching."

A LOOK AHEAD

Pride have two final regular season matches on the schedule including Sunday’s match with Rapids Women. Sitting with 16 points, six behind Rapids, Pride will need to win both matches to stay alive.

The Mountain Conference elected to crown its champion based on points in the regular-season standings.

Sunday's kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. MT at Stermole Soccer Stadium at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

The match will be streamed on Eleven Sports, the official streaming partner of the WPSL

  Author:  Andrew Mosier,  @AndrewMosier6  (Twitter)
  WPSL Contributor - WEST Region