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Arapahoe marches ahead

Shutout win against Fort Collins typical of Warriors' late run

John Rosa, Special to the News

Published May 18, 2006 at midnight

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CENTENNIAL - Whatever funk the Arapahoe girls soccer team found itself in earlier in the season is a thing of the past.

The Warriors definitely were not on the top of their game early in the year, struggling to a 4-3 mark and losing two contests to top-ranked Heritage and another to defending state champion Mountain Vista during the first month of the season.

But since losing to Heritage on April 7, fourth-seeded Arapahoe has been on a tear, winning 11 in a row, including its 4-0 drubbing of fifth- seeded Fort Collins on Wednesday in their Class 5A state quarterfinals match.

The Warriors (15-3) advance to the semifinals Saturday, when they will take on Heritage at 5 p.m. at Legacy Stadium.

Those early losses dropped Arapahoe, the runner-up last year, to the third-highest seed from the Continental League, but the Warriors have been playing like a No. 1 seed overall for the past six weeks. Since its last loss, Arapahoe has been almost unstoppable on offense, outscoring its past 14 opponents 63-5.

"We started slow and didn't really have enough confidence in ourselves," senior Kelly Menachof said. "We've built it up and, we haven't played our best yet, but we're peaking at the right time."

Arapahoe coach Kirk Bast said the key to his team's recent fortunes is the surplus of talent it has at forward.

With a handful of girls capable of scoring from that position, it's tough for teams to shut down the Warriors' assault.

"I give the kids up front high credit," Bast said. "We kind of do it by committee. We can rotate four or five girls at the forward position and still be effective. It's nice to have that."

Arapahoe's forwards were the difference in this game as well, with Menachof and Lindsay Stein setting the table for the rout.

Menachof notched the first goal, in the 10th minute, off a great feed from Kaitlin Bast, then Stein made it a 2-0 lead 85 seconds later, dribbling through the Lambkins defense before beating the keeper on a one-on-one.

"We had issues at the beginning of the season, but we've really figured out each other and started working together," said Stein, who has 17 goals this season. "We're really moving and, as forwards, we're moving off each other. Everyone's hungry, and you can tell at this point that everyone wants to score."

The back-to-back goals were deflating for Fort Collins (15-2-1), which had hoped to strike early to obtain some control of the contest. But after a great first 7 minutes in which the Lambkins got off a couple of shots and exerted tremendous pressure on Arapahoe, the Warriors' play up top started to take over.

Fort Collins coach Jason Odorizzi said the absence of senior midfielder Tara Bailey, who injured her ankle during a second-round win against Poudre, changed the complexion of his team.

"We could have easily been up 2-0, and then they scored that first goal on a breakaway and everyone got nervous," Odorizzi said. "Having Tara in the center was kind of our defensive presence there, and that's where the goals came from, that middle attack."

In the 19th minute, Menachof added her second goal of the contest, and Meredith Monson added the fourth goal on Arapahoe's only shot of the second half.

Fort Collins......0 0 - 0
Arapahoe......3 1 - 4

Goals - A, Kelly Menachof (Kaitlin Bast assist), 10th minute; A, Lindsay Stein, 11th minute; A, Menachof, 19th minute; A, Meredith Monson (Jamie Wilson assist), 53rd minute.

Shots on goal - FC, 4-3 - 7; A, 8-1 - 9. Saves - FC, (Liz Orton) 5-0 - 5; A, (Katherine Liebetrau) 4-3 - 7.

Corner kicks - FC, 2-2 - 4; A, 3-1 - 4. Cards - None.