'Stangs come up just short
Mullen falls 1-0 in the 4A final to undefeated and top-seeded Northfield; loss a difficult end to the season, but coach Degitis knows his guys will realize the lesson and look back fondly.
COLORADO SPRINGS – It has been quite the nine-month odyssey for Mullen soccer.
In late March, the Mustangs began the unprecedented Season C as the result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, went an impressive 8-2 against all Class 5A competition, earned a piece of the Centennial League title and somehow were not included in the 4A playoffs.
So when they got back to normal this fall, they lost their longtime head coach before the season, but a talented returning bunch was 13-1-1 in the regular season, led the league in goals for and against, didn’t lose to a 4A team, lost 1-0 to one of the 5A finalists, were seeded second in the playoffs, advanced to the championship game and outscored their opposition in 2021 by an aggregate 88-8.
Still, the learning lessons continued for Mullen as it fell 1-0 to undefeated and top-seeded Northfield at Weidner Field on a frigid Friday night, a tough cap to a tough stretch.
“We needed to get in early and we didn’t,” Mustangs head coach Matt Degitis said. “They were brilliant tonight, they had been brilliant all season, they get to play here for the opportunity of a lifetime and they lose 1-0. That’s life.
“And we have to be OK with that. It stings a little bit, but what the seniors have done is given back. It was a heck of a run, a heck of a game and we’ll know that soon. We can’t see that know, but we’ll know that soon.”
It was the first Colorado championship for Northfield (20-0), the newest Denver Prep school.
A distraught Mullen side was only dealing with the immediacy of the loss afterward.
“It’s tough,” senior Jack Sargent said. “We just couldn’t get that goal.”
Northfield scored in the 16th minute. The Mustangs were called for a foul that led to a free kick at the top of the box, a blistering shot that grazed the crossbar and got past keeper Andrew McGrath.
“It was a tough call that didn’t go our way,” Degitis said.
There wasn’t much noise either way the rest of the half, but Mullen certainly turned it up in the
second half, creating a series of chances – “Half chances,” Degitis said – that were just a bit off, a step slow or a move too tardy. One was a 3-on-1 in the 51st minute that occurred quickly, another was a chance alone out front at point-blank range that was shot over the goal in the 78th minute.
McGrath also had two brilliant saves, one on a dive to his right when tested in close in the 26th minute, and another late in the game when he pinched up near midfield, but handled a two-man rush.
“Northfield had some talented players in the back and protected the game well,” Degitis said. “We just couldn’t find a way.”
NORTHFIELD 1, MULLEN 0
Mullen 0 0 – 0
Northfield 1 0 -- 1
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