Fountain Valley falls short in final

ENGLEWOOD - Fountain Valley’s storybook season did not have a happy ending.

The Danes didn’t lose all season until Saturday night’s Class 3A state championship game when resourceful Denver Christian claimed a 2-1 victory at Pirates Stadium.

“That’s definitely the best team we’ve played all season,” Fountain Valley senior captain Ace VanEsselstine said.

Still, VanEsselstine couldn’t mask the pride he felt for the Danes.

“I’ve been in the program four years and this is by far the best team we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve had an amazing season.”

Fountain Valley (17-1-1), the No. 1 seed, fought valiantly in search of the school’s second team state championship — the girls volleyball team won in 2001 — but the Danes were left with the disappointment that comes with finishing second.

“We fought back as we’ve done all year,” Fountain Valley coach Nichole Rick said. “We should’ve won the game, probably, but we didn’t play our game.”

Oh, but the Danes came close to tying it in the final minutes as they applied intense pressure on the Crusaders defense.

With 3:30 left, Danes senior midfielder Brandon Giorgetta fired a shot that hit the post and caromed away. A minute later, sophomore Ricardo Castanon nearly scored.

“We hit the post, we hit the keeper, we hit the post,” Rick said with a smile. “How many chances were we going to get?”

No. 6 seed Denver Christian (15-2-2) scored first but the game was tied 1-1 at halftime after Danes sophomore John McCaffery scored in the 25th minute.

The decisive goal came with 20:07 left when Denver Christian senior midfielder Jack Reinsma took a looping pass from senior Danny Zoetewey and scored from 8 yards out.

Denver Christian took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute when sophomore midfielder Brent Ham ended a long, weaving run with a well-directed shot past Fountain Valley keeper Henry Schaefer.

The Danes countered when McCaffery took a pass from senior Rett Rayhill and, with a Crusaders defender nearly wrapped around him, found a way to stretch out and drill a shot past goalie Brendan Roslund.

Rayhill added to his school record of 23 goals in a season.

"This is an amazing team," Rick said. "We've got solid people and solid leaders."

The Danes had a possession edge in the first half. They led 3-1 in shots and 4-1 in corner kicks but the Crusaders managed to keep the ball out of the net except for McCaffery’s goal.

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