Hudson beats Denver, wins first girls soccer state championship

No. 1 Denver (19-1-3) and Hudson (20-2) faced off in the Class 1A championship game at the Iowa high school girls soccer state tournament, and the third-seeded Pirates were hoping for a different result than what happened in the regular season.

The Cyclones took down Hudson twice during the regular season, but in the final — and most important — game of the year, the Pirates came out on top.

After one lightning delay, two overtimes and a few penalty kicks, Hudson came out on top, beating Denver, 1-0 (4-1 PKs), for the title. The northeast Iowa rivals are separated by just 21 miles.

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“We’ve been working at this,” Hudson head coach Ashley Smiley said after the victory. “We’ve got a group of seniors that took us to the state tournament for the first time four years ago, and they wanted to finish what they started. That was their slogan, and here we are.”

The first half passed without a goal, but with several ups and downs.

Nearly five minutes into the action, Hudson’s Taylor Davis picked up the first shot of the game, sending a cross into the box that was headed out of bounds by a Denver defender. The Pirates recorded a couple more shots before the Cyclones got their first opportunity — an arching cross from close to the corner from Alexis Milder.

After exchanging possessions, the field fell silent when Hudson freshman Cailin Stickfort went down while going for the ball and the official signaled for a clock stoppage. The game paused for close to 10 minutes, and Stickfort was taken off the field on a stretcher.

“We’re a team that’s going to play for one another and fight till the very end,” said Smiley. “At that moment, we’re gonna play for her. That’s a hard hit she took, and she took it like a champ, and then we just kept fighting.”

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When both teams returned to the field, the play moved like molasses, as the athletes attempted to get back into the game. The Cyclones had a couple more chances before the end of the half, but the teams headed to the locker room tied, 0-0, at halftime.

The Pirates opened the second half with a corner kick in the opening minutes, but then the momentum flipped in Denver’s direction. The Cyclones kept the action on Hudson’s side of the field, and Denver was awarded five corner kicks in the final 24 minutes of the second half.

Some of those opportunities came close to the goal — with rain starting to come down with about 20 minutes remaining in regulation — but none found the back of the net.

After two semifinal matchups that required extra time — Hudson beating Aplington-Parkersburg in double overtime, and Denver beating St. Albert on penalty kicks — the Cyclones and Pirates were headed to overtime once again.

Four minutes into the first overtime period, Denver picked up its best opportunity. Bailey Mullihan let off a shot that bounced off the chest of Hudson’s goalie, and Addyson Shepard got her foot on the rebound. That shot went wide, and after Shepard let off another attempt, the Pirates’ defense managed to get the ball out of the box.

And then, with just over a minute remaining in the first overtime, the official blew his whistle and formed an ‘X’ with his arms over his head: The game had entered a lightning delay.

“We live for that stuff,” said Smiley. “We love the rain; we love the delays. It gets us hyped, actually. This is the perfect weather that we enjoy playing in.”

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The rain tapered off during the delay but picked back up when overtime restarted. Unable to muster anything in the final minute and 17 seconds, Denver and Hudson headed into a second overtime period.

Those 10 minutes passed without a goal — or even many opportunities — and the championship game went to penalty kicks.

Gia Baldiviezo stepped up first for Hudson, knocking her shot into the back of the net. Bailey Mullihan went first for Denver, and she evened the score. The Pirates’ next three shooters — Taylor Davis, Charlee Austin and Tayler Junker — each scored, but Austin came up big between the pipes.

She blocked Emily Mulert’s penalty kick with her chest and — after making her own penalty shot — dove to knock away Shepard’s penalty kick.

“She had it,” said Smiley. “She’s consistent. She’s consistent in goal; she’s consistent when she needs to take a (penalty kick). She’s here for the team, and she’s gonna do the best she can when she’s out there.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hudson beats Denver in 1A IGHSAU girls soccer state championship