Coming off two straight shutout losses, the Summit High School girls soccer team took to the turf in front of its home fans, eager to earn a win. 

Falling to Bear Creek High School, 3-0, on Wednesday, April 2, Summit looked to tighten up on defense and establish its offense early against the Conifer High School Lobos on Saturday, April, 5. 

With the sun helping bring warmth to the rather frigid spring day, Summit defended a Conifer offensive possession to start the game before driving the ball to the other side of the field. 

Summit got a brief look at the net, but it was not long before Conifer flipped the field. Sprinting to a loose ball, Conifer junior Bella Dastur looked like she may fire a shot on goal, but senior Olivia Lyman got in the way and pushed Dastur off the ball. 

The defensive stop gave Summit the energy it needed, repossessing the ball and setting up its offense. Summit eventually got a chance to score off of a corner kick which arced towards the net and ricocheted off several players. Finding the loose ball, sophomore Annika Broecker fired a shot into the back of the goal to give Summit a 1-0 lead.

Conifer promptly responded to the early goal by sending a shot towards Summit junior goalie Rowan Connelly. Although the shot had a lot of power behind it, Connelly moved swiftly and wrapped up the ball to maintain Summit’s lead.

Summit returned the ball back to its offensive zone where the team continued to put pressure on the Conifer goaltender. Although the pressure did not extend Summit’s lead, it did seem to tire Conifer. Fatigued from having to play tough defense, Conifer struggled to get the ball past Summit’s defensive core of Lyman, senior Delilah Staberg and senior Sadie Slahetka. 

Summit got within inches of scoring a second goal with close to 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Blocking a clearing pass from Conifer, junior Jaime Yim Nadler battled through several Conifer defenders before sending a shot towards the net. The shot bounced off the Conifer goalie, but Nadler followed up on the shot for a second opportunity. Despite Conifer being out of position, the ball barely flew wide of the goal.  

In the final moments of the first half, Conifer attempted to tie the game, but Summit continued to disrupt the Lobos’ offense and prevent shots from finding Connelly. Summit led 1-0 going into halftime.

In control of the game, Summit returned to the field after the brief intermission and continued to seek offensive opportunities to extend the team’s lead. Summit failed to see very many scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the fresh half as Conifer found ways to get the ball past the Tigers’ defense and put shots on goal.

At one point, Connelly had to lunge out in front of the goal in order to stop the ball from slinking past her and evening the score. After fighting off the wave of shots from Conifer, Summit returned to the attack. Lyman had two shots almost find the net, but the opportunities bounced to either side of the goal.

As the game ticked under 20 minutes remaining, Conifer grew more and more desperate. The Lobos’ intensity resulted in a free kick opportunity where the team sent a shot high over the head of Connelly and into the back of the goal. 

The goal seemed to awaken the Tigers, leading to the team upping its effort on both offense and defense. With under seven minutes remaining, senior Avery Eytel drove the ball to the doorstep of the goal and took a shot, but the chance went over the top crossbar and out of play.

Both teams pursued the net with vigor in the final moments of the game, however, neither team was able to score a goal. After 40 minutes of play, the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

“We are being frantic,” head coach Makenzie Meade said. “There is a lot of weird energy out there and we not playing how we started the season. We are kind of in a lull right now. I don’t know if it is the attitudes about the end of the year or what it is. … I do see that some of our girls that don’t usually play a lot are stepping up in those positions. I think the one thing we did well is that some of our newer girls stepped up and are playing pretty hard.””

Summit is now 4-2-1 overall on the season. Summit will travel to Battle Mountain High School in Edwards on Tuesday, April 8, before returning to Breckenridge for a game against Glenwood Springs on Thursday, April 10. The game against the Glenwood Springs Demons will serve as Summit’s senior night game and will take place at 6 p.m.

“We are just going to focus on making sure that we are playing our game,” Meade said. “Not playing how the other teams play. When we play our way, when we play as a team, we are definitely an incredible group.”