HIGHLANDS RANCH >> At any one time during the course of Saturday’s Class 5A girls soccer showdown between No. 1 Broomfield and No. 2 Valor Christian, there were at least eight NCAA Division I prospects on the field.

None were bigger, however, than Broomfield’s Michaela McGowan as the senior winger scored two goals and Broomfield edged Valor 2-1 Saturday in Highlands Ranch.

The biggest challenge for McGowan, though, was going up against her club teammates at Real Colorado, who are familiar with her dangerous tendencies.

“I think it’s hard going against your own teammates because they know how you play,” McGowan, a University of Denver commit, said. “You just have to not overthink it, play your game and do the best you can. The center back, Mandy (Patrick) is on my (club) team and she knows how I play. I just had to get around her.”

The top-10 showdown and early-season matchup delivered, as Broomfield, No. 3 in the nation per the latest United Soccer Coaches’ poll, controlled the pace of play for large swaths of the game, but Valor, ranked ninth, tried to push back.

The Eagles (6-0), opened the scoring in the fourth minute as McGowan was played in behind and finished off the move brilliantly with a solid strike into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

While Valor (3-1-1) tried to get back into the match in the first half, Broomfield’s defense was stout throughout the game, but particularly in the first half as it allowed just three shots and only one was on frame.

“It’s funny because we had talked about it at training yesterday that we were a really good team in the first five minutes and the last five minutes of each half,” Broomfield head coach Jim Davidson said. “Sure enough we got those two goals in the first five minutes of each half, but we gave up a goal at the end. We’ve got to do a better job of dealing with that. I thought we were clearly the better side on the day, but we just didn’t deal with it very well. It’s a good lesson for us.”

For Davidson, defense continued to be a theme in the second half. However, in the 41st minute, McGowan got her second of the morning as a long ball was played down the flank and she was first to it and followed up a rebound that came off of the post.

Valor once again tried to push the issue, but its connectivity in passing was lacking in the final third until late on. With two minutes to go, Addie Whitehouse won a penalty kick going for a 50-50 cross, and Jo Sees converted to make it 2-1. Still, Broomfield’s defense which is comprised of three D1-bound defenders (Bella Ganiere, verbally committed to Utah; Emerson DeLuca, verbally committed to Washington State; and Nicole Choren, signed for Utah Tech) held out for the remaining few minutes to seal the win.

“The girls were saying after the game, ‘coach, we were doing things we haven’t trained,’” Valor head coach Brian Shultz said. “I’ve got to own that piece of that and do a better job there and make sure the girls are better prepared. It’s difficult as the girls aren’t used to coming from behind. That was new to us.”

On the other end of the bench, Davidson thinks it can be a building block for the league season still to come, and what could potentially be a deep-round playoff game.

“It gives us the confidence to know that we have great potential as a team,” Davidson said. “We still have a couple of really good players that are out due to injury, so if we get one of those players back, I think we’re going to get better and create a lot more depth. It gives us confidence to know that we are a very good team that can compete with anyone.

“Certainly, we can’t rest on that,” Davidson continued. “We have to figure out ways to get better.”