When and where: Saturday at Mead High School, starting at noon.
The scouting report: Before Mead won a state title last spring in its inaugural season as a program, Fairview was home to many of the lacrosse players around the Boulder, Broomfield and Longmont areas.
Lucy Connors is the state’s leading scorer for the defending champs, who are a perfect 13-0 and ranked No. 1 in 4A. She tallied five more goals in a win over 5A No. 13 Palmer Ridge on Monday, giving her 61 on the season and 113 in her career.
Before she came over to Mead, she was a standout freshman with 22 goals in 2022 for the Knights, who fell just shy of reaching the 5A finals that season. Gabriella and Tessa McCollester were the other freshmen on that team and remain top producers for 5A No. 3 Fairview (10-2) this spring.
On Tuesday, the Knights wrapped up the 5A East League crown, finishing a perfect 6-0 in it after blowing out No. 7 Cherry Creek, 17-9.
Gabriella McCollester scored five times in the win, giving her a team-most 42 on the season. Her sister, Tessa, had four goals and two assists. She is second on the team in points (37) to Gabriella (46).
Fairview’s only two losses this season are to 5A No. 1 Colorado Academy and No. 2 ThunderRidge. Its game against Mead should serve as a nice prelude to the postseason, where it aims to reach its first-ever finals.
Last year, Connors had four goals and an assist as the Mavs beat the Knights, 9-7, in their regular-season finale.
The Mavericks went on to beat Castle View in the 4A finals behind eight goals from Connors. Fairview bowed out in the quarterfinals to the Bruins, 8-5.
The opening round of the 4A and 5A postseason begins Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Both the Mavericks and Knights are likely to have home-field advantage through the quarterfinals before all games go to Englewood High School for the semifinals (May 14-15) and the University of Denver for the finals (May 17).
