ENGLEWOOD – Six years of frustration were washed away in Saturday’s Class 5A girls soccer state semifinal match.

Heritage, which had advanced to that point for the last dozen years and gotten no further, finally broke the losing streak with a 2-0 victory over Rocky Mountain at Pirate Field.

The Eagles (16-0-3) used a fabulous combination of Taylor Nicholls’ passing and Abby Loar’s finishing for both goals. Heritage, seeded second, cemented the win and handed Rocky its only loss of the season by shutting down the Lobos attack.

The Eagles defense was keyed by Lexi Stirling, who anticipated numerous Lobos thrusts and came up to break up those attacks.

Rocky Mountain had a controlled offense, with plenty of possession and linked passes. The Lobos did well early on at getting the ball well downfield, but Loar and Nicholls then began to work harder on defense and that took away the counter.

Only one Lobos pass was as dangerous as the assists delivered by Nicholls, who is a striker alongside Loar.

Loar’s first goal came at the 17th minute, on a smooth-as-butter pass from Nicholls, who laid it out for her teammate making a rush from the left flank.

“The first one, I whiffed on (a shot), but got a diagonal pass to Abby,” said Nicholls, only slightly embarrassed by her miss. “The second one, I swung my hips and saw Abby out of the corner of my eye.”

Loar acknowledged the beauty of Nicholls’ assists.

“She placed it perfectly,” Loar said. “You can always count on those from Taylor Nicholls.”

Loar said she took extra care to place her shots as accurately as possible. The Lobos (17-1-1) had a couple of great chances from freshman Alyssa Cathey, but her first shot hit the crossbar and the second, coming off some tremendous moves by Kalie Vaughn, was a little high.

Nicholls said her team is flying high after the shutout win and making that rare trip to the finals next week.

“I can’t describe it,” she said. “We were all calm before the game and all the other times we were really pumped.”

Heritage will meet Grandview for the Class 5A title next Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Pirate Field.

Grandview 2, Cherry Creek 1, OT

Grandview’s Regina Thomas was doubly redeemed by the top-seeded Wolves’ win over Cherry Creek in Class 5A’s afternoon semifinal.

In the teams’ previous meeting, a scoreless tie on April 22, Thomas barely missed a shot and later broke her wrist. The Wolves senior striker repeated the first feat on Saturday against those same Bruins when her potentially game-winning shot struck the left post with 7 seconds left in regulation.

Thomas, though left no doubts in overtime, taking a pass from Amanda Collins and beating the Bruins with a shot only three minutes into the extra period.

“I saw the open part of the net, but I felt people around me and I kind of blind-shot it,” Thomas said. “I didn’t want my high school career to end (Saturday).”

Cherry Creek, seeded fifth, finished its season with a record of 14-3-2. The Bruins opened the scoring in the 21st minute on a rather remarkable header from Arianne Heaton.

Cherry Creek had a free kick just inside the right touchline and Caroline Danneberg hit a screamer aimed at the near post. Heaton was stationed there and redirected the ball inside the far post.

“I’ve had like a lot of those,” Heaton said. “I wasn’t even trying to score, but I’ve always been told to use that head flick from the near post. When it went it, it was the greatest feeling in the world.”

That feeling dissipated in the second half when Grandview midfielder Beth West got a free kick from the left side and skinned her shot off the wall and into the net for a deflection goal.

The Wolves truly took control of the match in the second half, but their only great chance came on Thomas’ crossbar shot, when she split defenders, somehow retained her balance and still got off a nearly lethal shot.

“I felt like we really earned that game,” Grandview coach Bruce Brown said. “We held the ball, we rolled it around. When it came down to the heart of it, we were able to reach down and grab it.”

Brown credited Alyssa Yearsley as Grandview’s top performer, shutting down the Bruins attack.

For Heaton, this season still rated a success.

“We were the runner-up last year (to Mullen), but we’ve had the most hard of any team I played on,” she said. “Our goalie Molly (Poletto) is ridiculous and she’s only a freshman.”

Rocky Mountain 0 0 -- 0

Heritage 1 1 -- 2

Goals – 1, H, Abby Loar (Taylor Nicholls) 17th. 2, H, Loar (Nicholls) 58th. Shots – RM 1-3 4; H 6-3 9. Saves – RM 3-1 4; H 0-2 2. Corner kicks – RM 1-1 2; H 6-2 8. Yellow cards – H, Stephanie Howe, 50th.

Cherry Creek 1 0 0 -- 1

Grandview 0 1 1 -- 2

Goals – 1, CC, Arianne Heaton (Caroline Danneberg) 21st. 2, G, Beth West, 22nd. 3, G, Regina Thomas (Amanda Collins) 89th. Shots – CC 1-5-0 6; G 8-6-1 15. Saves – CC 4-3-0 7; G 0-1-0 1. Corner kicks – CC 1-1-0 2; G 2-3-0 5.

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