Rapids Week - Event #5 Recap - The High School Classic

It's event day 5 of Rapids Week 2009, and the events are flowing fast and furiously this week building up to Opening Night!

We're reporting here from the scoreboard master control room at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, and tonight it's the Colorado Rapids High School Classic, presented by CollegeInvest.

The Arvada West Wildcats are taking on the Standley Lake Gators in front of hundreds of friends and family in the first-ever stand alone high school soccer match ever held here on the stadium pitch. Tonight's event is a match-up of two high school girls teams, who just both happen to be archrivals.

Arvada West drew first blood 7 1/2 minutes in, putting the Wildcats up 1-0.

Junior forward #21 Larissa Drew struck for Arvada West, giving her school the honor of getting their team logo posted front and center on this very blog entry.

Arvada West doubled their lead with 13 minutes before the end of the half, off a goal by senior and team captain #23 Brittany Lyman.

10 minutes into the second half, Standley Lake pulled one back. Senior forward #15 Alissa Johnson, team captain as well as daughter of our PA announcer tonight, scored off a great header on a set piece to move the Gators within one.

However only a short time later, Larissa Drew notched her second goal on the evening after being sprung on a breakaway with a deft chip over the 'keeper to make it 3-1 Wildcats.

With 5 minutes to go before the final whistle, Arvada sealed their victory with a fantastic tally by junior forward #9 Anna Evans, who juked the goalkeeper and slotted home to put the Wildcats up 4-1.

The Rapids look forward to making the High School Classic a continued tradition here at the stadium with other high school teams battling it out on the Rapids' match pitch in the future; look for the Pine Creek Eagles vs. the Chatfield Chargers as the next installment coming up on Thursday, April 23.

Rapids Week - Event #5 Recap - The High School Classic