On Tuesday, May 11, the Fossil Ridge Sabercats defeated the Castle View Sabercats 6-2 in the opening round of the playoffs.

Some teams might get rattled by the extra pressure of the playoffs, but for Fossil, it was business as usual. The coach, Kim Wisenant, spoke about how calm and prepared her players were heading into this game.

“Our team does a really good job managing the games on their own now. They know what to expect and what it’s supposed to look like. It’s like a well-oiled machine at this point,” Wisenant said.

What stood out the most was the Sabercats’ offensive outburst. The team scored two goals in the first half to take the early lead, and tacked on four goals in the second to secure the win. This marks their seventh game scoring six or more goals, holding an undefeated record in those outings.

“[We’re] playing fast, sharing the ball, and hopefully placing it in the back of the net…[With] knowing the players we have around us and our tendencies, we want to play [the ball] to players and into proper gaps…We’re doing a good job at reading our people,” Wisenant explained.

One offensive standout was a freshman, Abby Ballek, who scored two of their goals, along with grabbing another assist. This continues Ballek’s reign of terror this season, bringing her goal total up to 21 and her point total to 53. She shared her coach’s sentiment on the way Fossil was connecting on the offensive end.

“I thought that since we have a lot of chemistry we were really building the ball…Taking advantage of those one-two touch passes,” Ballek said.

Now, the Sabercats will travel to play Cherry Creek High School during the round of 16 on Friday, May 13. Despite the scary date, the team feels no chills heading into the next game.

“I think we have a lot of confidence and I think we all know that we can win [on Friday],” Ballek said.