Fun run halted in semis
Mullen's spirited run ends in a 1-0 loss to Battle Mountain; team overachieved in finishing 13-4-2.
GREELEY – It wasn’t the end they craved.
No, on the first bitterly cold night of the fall, Mullen fell 1-0 in overtime to Battle Mountain in the Class 4A semifinals contested at the University of Colorado’s Jackson Stadium.
The Mustangs ended 13-4-2, a spirited run near the end of the bracket as the No. 20 seed.
The Huskies, who lost to the Mustangs twice a year ago – in the season opener and the semifinals – scored the game’s only goal midway through the extra session. They will meet Northfield, the defending champion, in the finale Saturday in Colorado Springs.
“It was tough,” Mustangs head coach Matt Degitis said. “I went into the game with the mentality that it was ours to win or lose. And we were in control of that for a long time.”
Mullen certainly had its chances. It had eight of the first 10 corner kicks, turned in a wave of goal-line opportunities, hit the crossbar, hit a post and misfired on a couple of open goal kicks.
But neither team scored until 7:40 into OT as the Huskies survived another attempt at a run by Mullen, countered and turned a through ball into the match’s lone score.
“It was almost like the ball was falling our way until the final moment,” Degitis said. “And we just couldn’t take hold of the game, and that’s soccer a lot of the time.”
He added: “No excuses. We had our chances. When you have an experienced team like Battle, it will find a way. (The Huskies) found one glimmer of opportunity and seized it.”
And no apologies for a 2022 that included scoring Mullen’s first goal on 5A power Grandview since 2016 for a tie, forcing Arapahoe into a tie (the Warriors’ only blemish in the Centennial League) and a playoff run that opened with two road victories on the way to another final four.
Alex Sedita carried a lot of the team, Degitis said, and keeper Mitch Ringman “was as good as there was in the state.”
In all, he said, “I’m very thrilled with the season.”
BATTLE MOUNTAIN 1, MULLEN 0 OT
Battle Mountain 0 0 1 -- 1
Mullen 0 0 0 -- 0
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