CENTENNIAL – It was late in a lopsided playoff game played in conditions more suitable for March than mid-spring.

    But there was Brighton’s Justine Espinosa smiling – and in some cases laughing – her way through the last few minutes of a 10-0, first-round playoff loss at Arapahoe High School May 11.

    “It was just a good game,” she smiled. “I was excited to play – just couldn’t help but fall a few times. The conditions were pretty bad. It was cold, but it was not the worst we’ve seen.”

    The first half was relatively dry. The second half was not. The footing on the field became a problem for several players, not just Espinosa. But that didn’t stop her teammates from razzing her.

    “I fell down a lot,” she said. “If it was anybody else, we’d have given them a hard time. That’s what we do. We always have fun, even in a thing like this. We make the best out of what we have, even if the score isn’t that great.”

    The Warriors showed why they are the fifth seed in the 5A field. They scored seven times in the first half. Two of those goals by Laura Feehs and Tori Amsberry, came within the first three shots by Arapahoe players. Feehs wound up with four scores. Amsberry had two. The game was stopped midway through the second half because of the state’s mercy rule.

    Brighton’s one shot was from Priscilla Rivera in the first half. It sailed over top of the Arapahoe net.

    “It’s hard to try to get them to believe that they can have success against a team of that caliber especially when you have played them three years in a row and the results have been so lopsided in the past,” BHS coach J Doehring said. This was the third straight playoff game between the two teams. It was the second time in as many years that Arapahoe beat Brighton by way of the mercy rule.

    “We try each year to improve,” Espinosa said. “The end of the year, it’s the same outcome. We just come out here and play and hope for the best each year. It’s just bad luck.”

    Doehring said his team could take a lot from the playoff loss.

    “I think when we get done, the girls say, ‘Wow. We want to play like that at that level,’” Doehring said. “It is good to aspire to be as successful as Arapahoe has been.  It also proves the point we tried to make at the beginning of the year.  In order to not have to play a team of that caliber in the first round of playoffs you have to take care of business.

    “Losses to Overland, George Washington and Prairie View (by a combined five goals) sealed our fate,” Doehring continued. “Had we won even two of the three games, we would have probably been seeded higher and would not have to play Arapahoe. We have to find a way to win the close games.”        

“We see a lot of things we need to work on to make us better,” Espinosa said. “Regardless of what happened, we had fun.”