Longmont girls soccer will have to wait another year to get over its first-round state playoff hump.

For the third straight season, the Trojans were bounced in the opening round of the Class 3A state tournament, this time by No. 18 seed St. Mary’s Academy. No. 15 seed Longmont couldn’t find its groove throughout a season-wrapping, 3-0 defeat at Everly-Montgomery Field on Thursday.

Although the closing of another chapter stings all the same, Longmont takes solace in the program’s continued success and the legacy left by its graduating class. Seniors Cielo Gartenmann, Ella Erwin, Kendal Finley, Jenna Errington and others helped Longmont grow from a two-win team in 2022 to finishing 10-4-1 (5-1-1 3A/2A Patriot League) this season.

“Those girls — Cielo, Ella, Kendal and Jenna — they were the beginning of a new program at Longmont,” said Longmont head coach Patricia Pless. “They started to tell the other girls, ‘We’re gonna get good, we’re gonna get better, just hang with us.’ Going (to state) three years in a row, usually it takes 10 years to turn a program around, and those girls did it in four years.”

Erwin was equally proud of Longmont’s quick rise to becoming playoff regulars.

“Our hard work — not only with coach’s help and the rest of the amazing girls that we gathered along the way — (helped) turn this program around, which I’m proud of,” Erwin said.

Against SMA, the Trojans’ defense and freshman goalkeeper Bella Oldroyd could only hold for so long during the first half. After withstanding several St. Mary’s Academy scoring attempts in the opening 20 minutes, Longmont lost track of Wildcats freshman Sarah Messerle on a corner kick in the 21st minute to fall behind 1-0. In the second half, fellow freshman Katie Mancherian scored the visiting team’s second and third goals, giving the Wildcats ample insurance.

Thursday may have been difficult for Oldroyd, but Pless said Longmont’s success this spring was largely due to the freshman goalie.

“Every year that I’ve been here, we’ve had to create a goalie, and now we have somebody in that,” Pless said. “I think the biggest difference this year was having a goalkeeper to keep everybody where they should be in that back of the field.”

Sophomore Claire Sebring was also one of Longmont’s brightest spots throughout the season. One year removed from scoring 11 goals as a freshman, the midfielder led the Trojans with 18 goals, including six multi-score games. Sebring’s offensive effort was complemented by Erwin, who closed her four-year varsity career with 36 goals. Led by Sebring, Oldroyd and sophomores Cora Reinholt and Kylissa Kirk, Longmont boasts a talented group of underclassmen with playoff experience.

“I am really impressed with our freshman class this year and how many sophomores we’ve brought up,” Kirk said. “I think that we’re going to keep going up. It’s not linear, of course, but we’re just going to keep exponentially growing, so I’m really excited for that.”

St. Mary’s Academy will next travel to Kent Denver for a second-round matchup Saturday. The second-seeded Sun Devils blew past No. 31 DSST: Green Valley Ranch in its first-round game, 10-0.