St. Mary's potent offense too much for rival CSCS to handle

    Junior Lauren Kuklenski got the first hat trick of her career to help St. Mary's defeat rival Colorado Springs Christian School 4-2 in a 3A state girls soccer quarterfinal Saturday at the Grace Center.

    "It's not unheard of for Lauren to score, but for her to score three times for the first time in her three years is remarkable," St. Mary's coach Gregg Braha said. "She's a big player and had a big game."

    With the win, the Pirates (14-3) advance to play defending state champ Kent Denver (12-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday in Englewood in a rematch of the 2007 3A final.

    Though St. Mary's dominated possession against CSCS, the Pirates couldn't close the door as they had in a 3-0 Tri Peaks Conference victory on April 12. The Lions had only seven shots on goal Saturday, but senior Rachael Michaels converted two into scores.

    "We knew if we could string some passes together and maintain possession, we could compete better this time," CSCS coach Stu Davis said. "But they have a lot of weapons, and we had our hands full defensively."

    Kuklenski opened the scoring almost 25 minutes into the game after a corner kick from freshman Kendra Tyboroski was headed into the crossbar by senior co-captain Julia Saenz. Kuklenski headed the rebound past goalkeeper Brooklyn Chase.

    But the Lions came right back with a breakaway goal less than a minute later by Michaels, who beat three defenders.

    St. Mary's freshman Caela Schaeffer gave her team a 2-1 lead at halftime off an assist from junior Jennifer Ivan, but Michaels tied it 10 minutes into the second half.

    Kuklenski scored the goahead goal from the center of the field off a pass from sophomore Christina Whitelaw with 19 minutes to play. Kuklenski's third came with 30 seconds left.

    St. Mary's lost 2-1 to the Sun Devils in the Pirates' season opener on March 8.