WESTMINSTER >> As former program standout Juliauna Hayward watched from the team bench Thursday afternoon, Legacy opened play in the Front Range League with a commanding — if not entirely fruitful performance — beating Boulder 1-0 at North Stadium.

Hayward, donning her current team on an oversized grey CU sweatshirt, liked what she saw.

“There’s a lot of potential,” the 2022 BoCoPreps player of the year said at halftime. “We’re all very young. Lot of sophomores, a lot of juniors. As they get older, they’ll just mature even more.”

Katey Beaver scored in the 22nd minute, assisted by Class 5A’s reigning points champ Kendall Rippley, and that’s all the Lightning (3-0-1, 1-0 FRL South) needed to trump the Panthers (1-5, 0-1) for a fourth straight season.

Rippley, however, knows there were goals left on the field.

“We know we can do better,” she said.

The Air Force commit scored 34 times last season, which was the most in the 5A classification in at least a decade as she co-starred alongside the assist-machine Hayward. But so far this year, she has served more as a playmaker for others. Like Hayward did for her, she said.

Against the Panthers’ backline midway through the first half, she drew two defenders just outside the box and fed Beaver atop of it for her third goal of the season.

“Me and Katey Beaver have been connecting almost like ‘J’ and I did last season,” said Rippley, who has one goal and three assists through four games this spring. “It’s almost like roles flipped. It’s kind of cool to be a part of the other side and set other players up for success.”

Never a bad idea to follow in Hayward’s footsteps.

A touted high school prospect, Hayward chose CU over some other women’s soccer bluebloods, earning Pac-12 All-Freshman marks last fall despite missing her last six matches with a concussion.

Earlier this week, the honors kept coming as she was one of just 46 players selected to Team USA’s overlapping U-18/U-19 and U-20 national train- ing camps.

“She’s an exceptional kid who left her mark on this program,” Legacy coach Heather Solar said. “It’s great for the players who never had an opportunity to play with her to see her come here. It’s great for me to connect with her again because I have so much respect for her.”

Boulder played mostly with 10 underclassmen on the field in its fourth straight loss.

Sophomore goalie tandem Scout Hubble and Maisie Creamer were strong during their respective halves in net, both denying good looks from goals queen Rippley as part of it. But the youth and inexperience for the Panthers could be felt in the moments they needed a big push and couldn’t deliver.

Coach Carlos Real, who lost senior standout Ava Werner to a season-ending injury in the team’s second game, said his group is getting “battle-tested”.

“Little by little, we are gelling more,” he said. “They are starting to believe that they can compete with a Legacy and those big teams. It’s just time and patience.”

The Panthers host Fairview Tuesday. Legacy is at ThunderRidge Saturday.