{"id":184957,"date":"2026-05-06T02:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/184957\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:54:14","slug":"erie-girls-soccer-defeated-arapahoe-2-0-behind-elodie-kirchoffner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/184957\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie girls soccer defeated Arapahoe 2-0 behind Elodie Kirchoffner."},"content":{"rendered":"

ERIE \u2014 As the snow dumped on the pitch at Erie High School with decreasing visibility on Tuesday, Elodie Kirchoffner was laser-focused on one priority \u2014 ensuring the Tigers would make it out of the first round of the Class 5A state soccer playoffs.<\/p>\n

Three minutes into play, the junior midfielder took it to the bank \u2014 the snow bank \u2014 with her 12th goal of the season to give the No. 14 Tigers the early edge. They eventually defeated No. 19 Arapahoe 2-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very cold but it\u2019s fun. Honestly, I\u2019m just trying to keep a smile on my face and work through it with my team,\u201d Kirchoffner said. \u201cIt was good to get a goal early and set the level high.\u201d<\/p>\n

This Tiger team, she added, has been playing a tier up this season, and credits the jump to an 11-4-1 record to the camaraderie she and her teammates enjoy on and off the pitch. Their effort on Tuesday hardly allowed the Warriors to get off a good shot on goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have team dinners every week, so that helps a lot in practices. We had classes together. We do a lot together. We\u2019re all like best friends,\u201d she added. \u201cOur team chemistry has been so good this season. Everything just clicks so well, especially in this weather right now. It\u2019s really hard, but we\u2019ve done a really good job at staying together and working together and wanting to go far in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her personal goal, she said, was to score in every game that came to pass, and while she wasn\u2019t able to achieve that, she\u2019s still been the beating heart of the Erie offense. On two separate occasions, at the end of March against Brighton and in mid-April against Lewis-Palmer, she scored hat tricks.<\/p>\n

\"Erie\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Erie\u2019s Tayllin Maynes fights for ball control with Arapahoe’s Paige Bradley during the Tigers\u2019 Class 5A first-round playoff game against Arapahoe on May 5, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n

\"Erie<\/p>\n

Erie girls soccer celebrates Elodie Kirchoffner’s goal during the Tigers\u2019 Class 5A first-round playoff game against Arapahoe on May 5, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n

\"Erie\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Erie\u2019s Kate Zogorski takes the ball down a snowy field during the Tigers\u2019 Class 5A first-round playoff game against Arapahoe on May 5, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n

\"Erie\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Erie\u2019s Kate Zogorski weaves the ball around Arapahoe’s Ruby Plumb during the Tigers\u2019 Class 5A first-round playoff game against Arapahoe on May 5, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n

\"Erie\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Erie\u2019s Brooke Wenino zeroes in on a ball during the Tigers\u2019 Class 5A first-round playoff game against Arapahoe on May 5, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 5<\/p>\n

Erie\u2019s Tayllin Maynes fights for ball control with Arapahoe’s Paige Bradley during the Tigers\u2019 Class 5A first-round playoff game against Arapahoe on May 5, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Second-year head coach Laura Munnelly knew that if they could net a goal early into the game, while the snow was blowing toward them, and keep the Warriors at bay, they had an excellent shot to pull off the win.<\/p>\n

Freshman midfielder Brooke Wenino sunk her own score in the 53rd minute for good measure from about 15 yards out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI preach a very possession style of soccer,\u201d Munnelly said. \u201cI think this year, we\u2019ve seen successes when we\u2019ve played that way. They\u2019ve just continued to understand that that\u2019s how we win games. We\u2019ve got a lot of talent, a lot of heart. We\u2019ve come together, I think, especially in the latter half of the season, just culturally as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up until Tuesday night, the Tigers had never won a 5A playoff game \u2014 having only jumped into the largest classification in the last few years \u2014 and last made it out of the 4A first round against Denver North in 2023.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019ll face off with either No. 3 Castle View or No. 30 Liberty for the quarterfinals on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good and to do it at home, I think, feels a little bit extra special,\u201d Munnelly said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t win our senior night game (2-0 against Horizon), so this was a chance to make good on that for our seniors. We just get to keep playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

View a list of Prep sports and high school teams we cover.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ERIE \u2014 As the snow dumped on the pitch at Erie High School with decreasing visibility on Tuesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1675,1676,7250,136,138,137,7806,1677,305,241,182,139,75750,726,73806],"class_list":["post-184957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-boulder-county","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-erie-tigers","tag-front-range","tag-high-school-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-preps-girls-soccer","tag-sports","tag-spring-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}