Bloomfield's Emerson Pera diverts the ball with a header during the Eagles' game against Legacy on April 25, 2024, at Elizabeth Kennedy Stadium. (Alissa Noe/BoCoPreps.com)
BLOOMFIELD — Through the first 11 games of the spring season, no one could beat Bloomfield girls soccer. Naturally, that streak ended in a cross-town rivalry.
On a stormy Thursday night, Legacy defeated the Eagles 1-0, thanks in large part to the late-game heroics of senior keeper Riley Hennings. She made not one, not two, but four great saves in her final five minutes, sealing the win for the Lightning.
No part of her body was safe, so she threw it on the line again and again to thwart Bloomfield's last surge of aggressive attacks. She wanted to be sure that Makayla Martinez's goal in the 48th minute would not be in vain.
“You probably saw me jump as hard as I could,” Hennings said. “That's all we want. We just want to score, so we were very excited. The defender came back and I said, 'We're not being scored. do not have”.”
The Lightning brought an extra level of physicality to the contest with players colliding from side to side. Bloomfield senior Charlotte Hansen said that allowed the Eagles to not be at their best, even temporarily, and allowed Martinez to break free from them. For the first time all season, he couldn't recover.
By Thursday, they had a 10-0-1 record and eight shutouts.
“I think this says a lot about us and how well we've done this season,” Hansen said. “But like I said at the end, good teams need to lose sometimes, because we know what that feeling is like and we know we don't want to feel it again. “I think we fought hard. This was a cross-town rivalry. They really brought physicality and effort tonight, so we won't be disappointed in our effort. ”
Of course, the Eagles had some tempting chances to score. Just two minutes into the second half, senior midfielder Emerson Pera took a straight shot on goal from about 25 yards out. The ball hit the crossbar, went down, and bounced back.
Twenty minutes later, Bloomfield nearly tied the game with a long free kick, but a Legacy player turned the ball and headed it past his own goal. The Lightning did everything in their power to avoid another tie, improving to 6-2-3 with a stunning win over the Eagles.
The Lightning will make the (long) road to Fruita Monument on Saturday, while the Eagles will finish the regular season with a short trip to Boulder on the same day. Next week, the Front Range League's North and South divisions will go head-to-head in the Class 5A state playoffs to determine who will reign supreme in the FRL.
Legacy has a huge boost moving forward.
“Personally, I think beating Bloomfield is the biggest win you can get when you’re on a legacy team, so this is pretty high on (my list),” Hennings said. “I was excited to be out there with the team, and I really got involved tonight.”
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