Fairview punches its Silver ticket to the semis – Boulder Daily Came…

LAKEWOOD — Undoubtedly the MVP for Fairview girls soccer’s offense, senior striker Claire Silverman has been a goal-scoring machine in her final season with the Knights.

And, unlike Joel Embiid, she knows how to show up in the postseason.

On Monday at Trailblazer Stadium during the quarterfinals of the Class 5A state playoffs, Silverman’s two first-half goals propelled the 14th-seeded Knights past No. 11 Rocky Mountain with a 2-0 final, setting up for a date in the semis with No. 10 ThunderRidge at the University of Denver on Thursday.

“We’re just on a great roll right now. We just keep going up,” Silverman said. “I’d say playoffs, really, or towards the end of league, our team seemed to just fully come together. The energy has been super good at practice. We’ve gotten super close as a team and everybody just really, really wants to win it this year. We’re a team full of seniors, so everybody wants to end on a good note.”

Earlier in the evening, ThunderRidge upset No. 2 Broomfield, 1-0. Silverman wasted no time ensuring the Knights wouldn’t suffer the same fate. It began with a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, then she added to her own scorecard six minutes later when she slid past two Lobos to net another goal.

She nearly dropped in her third in the 54th minute with a ricochet off the crossbar.

In doing so, she tallied her 18th and 19th goals through just 14 games to add to her team-high eight assists. But the Knights couldn’t complete the shutout without their all-star cast of defenders and keeper Alyson Campbell, who added her own flair with a few hyper-athletic, punching saves.

“I have on and off days, but I think playoffs has been a good run for me,” Campbell said. “I’ve made a couple brutal mistakes that my team has backed me up on and had my back throughout the season. I think, going into playoffs, we only have six goals against. I could stand here and take credit for it but that wouldn’t be fair. My backline has done an incredible job of saving me when I mess up and vice-versa. I think right now, the biggest thing is just working for each other.”

That lethal defense paid dividends just a few days earlier when the Knights had to travel into hostile territory at No. 3 Legacy. Thanks to battle-tested leadership from the top down, they upset the Lightning with a 1-0 final, needing only Malia Schelin’s score 15 minutes into the action to get the job done.

Head coach Steve Griggs hopes the extensive experience the ladies have — and the chemistry they’ve been building for well over a decade — can carry them to the state championship. First, they have to face off with ThunderRidge, and may have to do it without Kyla Stroker, who “felt a pop” in her knee at the start of the second half.

She nursed the injury with crutches up until the conclusion of the game.

“It’s a group of 13 seniors and most of them have been playing soccer together since they were about 6 years old, 5 years old,” Griggs said. “It’s a solid group of kids just character-wise, and it means a lot to them in their senior year, obviously, to be able to gel at the right time and have this one last go before they move on.”