Aspen girls to open state soccer playoffs Friday

The Aspen High School girls soccer team will kick off the 2015 state playoffs Friday.

The Skiers, the No. 20 seed in the 24-team Class 3A state tournament bracket, will take on No. 13 seed Alamosa at 4:30 p.m. Friday in a match at Kent Denver High School.

The winner of the game between Aspen and Alamosa will advance to a second-round game against No. 4 seed Kent Denver. That game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kent Denver High School.

The Skiers (10-4-0) qualified for the state playoffs as the No. 2 Class 3A team in the Western Slope League.

Coal Ridge High School of New Castle (11-4-0) also qualified for 3A state out of the Western Slope League.

Conference champion Vail Mountain (13-1-0 overall, 10-0-0 in league) advances to the Class 2A state playoffs after playing a 3A league schedule.

Coal Ridge, the No. 11 seed, will play No. 22 Sterling (8-6-0) at 4 p.m. Friday at Frontier Academy in Greeley. Frontier (11-4-0) is the No. 6 seed.

No. 1 overall seed Colorado Academy (13-2-0) will play the winner of No. 16 Faith Christian (6-7-1) versus No. 17 The Pinnacle of Federal Heights (11-4-0).

The No. 2 overall seed is The Academy of Westminster (15-0-0). The Academy will take on the winner of No. 15 Fountain Valley (10-3-1) versus No. 18 Denver Science and Technology (10-4-1).

Jefferson Academy of Broomfield (13-2-0) is the No. 3 seed. Jefferson Academy will play the winner of the first-round game between No. 14 Bayfield (11-2-0) and No. 19 Manitou Springs (9-6-0).

Other top 3A seeds hosting first- and second-round games include No. 4 Kent Denver, No. 5 Peak to Peak of Lafayette (9-5-1), No. 6 Frontier Academy of Greeley (11-4-0), No. 7 Liberty Common of Fort Collins (12-3-0) and No. 8 Middle Park of Granby (12-2-0).

Alamosa enters Friday’s game with a 12-2-0 record, the 13th seed.

The Mean Moose won their league title. Their only losses came against Class 4A Montezuma-Cortez and Class 3A playoff qualifier Bayfield.

Alamosa is led by Tayleur Hillis and Darby Bolt. Hillis has a team-leading 19 goals this season.

Bolt scored 15 times for the Mean Moose.

Taylor Nye also has nine goals. And she leads Alamosa with 10 assists.

Logan McNamee is Aspen’s leading scorer with 15 goals this season.

dstrode@aspentimes.com