Bruins put Chargers' streak on the skids

Chatfield girls soccer coach, Brock Blume, had some interesting words to say to his players after the team’s first loss of the season April 19 to Cherry Creek.

He said, “We talked about bending and not breaking, but we got bent.”

The players on the bench reflected on their 1-0 Class 5A nonleague loss by listening to his words, which were not harsh but rather a call for improvement.

Just after his “bent” comment, he asked the girls: “Anyone want to play in a game like that again?” After little response he answered his own question, “I do!”

He went on to say that the game was tough, but that he still hadn’t seen the best out of the Chargers team, which was ranked second in the state.

“It’s good for us to experience a loss,” said Chatfield goalie Alyssa Gillmore. “When we get into the (state) tournament we hopefully won’t have to experience it again.”

Before the April 19 game, Chatfield had won 11 straight games.

“We’ve had quite a few defensive games that were 1-0 this season, but this was the best skilled team we’ve seen so far,” Gillmore said.

Cherry Creek, ranked No. 3, battled for each ball just as hard as Chatfield did. Several times Cherry Creek just reached the ball first and kept slamming Gillmore with shots. The one that made the difference came early in the second half.

“We just got caught short handed,” Gillmore said. “Our midfielders were up high and our defense was doing their best, but we just couldn’t contain them.”

However, Chatfield did contain the Bruins in the first half, keeping the visitors off the scoreboard.

Just after Cherry Creek scored in the second half, Chatfield pushed the attack, but had several opportunities just miss.

“I thought our team did really good trying to get possession at a tough time in the game,” said freshman Kaitlyn Basset, referring to the game’s final minutes. “We should have tried to possess it more.

“(Cherry Creek) were definitely tough and the game was high pressure. But, it got us thinking about how much better we have to play to win the next game.”