Tie with Wheat Ridge leaves Lady Cougars feeling a bit empty

LAKEWOOD — A 2-2 double-overtime tie against Wheat Ridge left the Evergreen girls’ soccer team feeling a little raw and empty on April 13 at Lakewood Memorial Field. For nine years, the Lady Cougars (7-1-2, 4-0-1 4A Jeffco) have been unable to defeat Wheat Ridge, making the tie feel more like a loss than a draw.
Evergreen freshman goalkeeper Natalie Ulfig made save after save from Wheat Ridge’s relentless offense, holding the game scoreless through the first half. But early in the second half, Wheat Ridge (2-5-2, 2-1-2) played a stronger offensive game baiting Ulfig to come out of the net time and again.
Still, it was Evergreen freshman Jahna Pusedu who scored the first goal off of a direct free-kick from a pushing call. Evergreen’s excitement, however, was short-lived because on the next possession Wheat Ridge junior Macee Broer pocketed the ball straight off of a direct-free kick, tying the score 1-1.
Once again, Evergreen gained control of the ball off of a direct free kick when freshman Brianna Curtis passed directly to senior Ellie Petrik, who was waiting in front of the net to score. The goal put the Lady Cougars up 2-1 with 12 minutes remaining.
The Lady Farmers knew that if they didn’t act quickly they would lose to Evergreen for the first time in a nearly a decade. Thus, Wheat Ridge’s Leticia Rambeau got the opening she needed to tie the game.The score remained tied through regulation and double overtime.
“It’s disappointing when you don’t capture the win when you are ahead by a goal twice,” Evergreen head coach Peter Jeans said. “But we have a young team and they are still learning, and we have to hand it to Wheat Ridge. They battled the whole time and didn’t (let themselves) feel like the game was over, so sometimes you have to be happy with the tie.”