A year after the Berthoud girls soccer team missed out on breaking a long playoff drought by one spot in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index, the Spartans are in the postseason for the first time since 2006.
Berthoud will be joined in the playoffs by Thompson Valley and Loveland Classical after CHSAA released brackets for all classifications Sunday.
The Spartans, who haven’t played a postseason game in 20 years, will make their long-awaited return to the playoffs at home Thursday. The Eagles and Lions will also host playoff games this week.
Berthoud qualified for the Class 3A bracket as the No. 14 seed after going 9-5-1 in the regular season and finishing third in the 4A/3A Longs Peak League. It was the Spartans’ first winning season since at least 2008.
They will host No. 19 seed Manitou Springs (6-7-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Max Marr Stadium.
First-year head coach Kylee Dunham, a former assistant at Thompson Valley, has guided the team to new heights this season. The last time the Spartans came close to a winning season was in 2024 when they went 6-6-3. The last time they won at least seven games was in 2018 when they went 7-8.
Berthoud is led offensively by sophomores Madison Ott and Aubrey Clopper. They led the team in goals through the first half of the season. Complete stats for the Spartans were unavailable.
The winner between the Spartans and Mustangs will face either No. 3 Colorado Academy or No. 30 Roaring Fork in the second round on Saturday.
Thompson Valley will make its sixth straight playoff appearance. The Eagles (8-2-5) are the No. 16 seed in Class 4A and will host No. 17 Mead (7-3-4) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Ray Patterson Stadium.
The Eagles went 6-0-2 in the Longs Peak League and finished as the runner-up to conference champion Timnath, which went 7-0-1.
Thompson Valley has been led offensively this season by sophomore Elena Montoya, who has scored 15 goals with six assists. Senior Jesika Hopkins has scored 11 goals with nine assists.
The winner between the Eagles and Mavericks will face either No. 1 Palmer Ridge or No. 32 Thomas Jefferson in the second round Friday.
Classical, the defending Class 2A state champion, has a bye in the first round and will open its title defense at home Saturday. The Lions (10-3-1) will host either No. 10 Salida or No. 23 Vail Christian at LCS.
The 3A/2A Foothills League champions are making their seventh straight playoff appearance. The Lions had never advanced past the second round before winning the program’s, and school’s, first state title a year ago.
They are led offensively by senior Abby Ruppert, last year’s Reporter-Herald player of the year. She has scored 23 goals with four assists this season. Senior Kaelyn Doan has scored 18 goals with five assists. Goalkeeper Keira Doan has recorded seven shutouts this season.
Like Berthoud last year, Loveland missed out on making the playoffs by one spot in Class 5A despite the program’s best season ever as a 5A program.
The Red Wolves went 8-7 in the regular season, the most wins ever as a 5A program. They won seven games in 2022. They also had their best-ever conference showing, going 3-3 and finishing fourth in the 5A/4A Northern League.
Junior Makenna Bruno finished the regular season ranked third in Class 5A in goals scored (18), fifth in assists (10) and second in points (46).
