SkyView Academy’s girls soccer team has been talking a lot this season, not to other teams but to themselves.

The Hawks are 9-0 and ranked second in the April 17 CHSAANow.com state poll behind top-ranked Denver Christian, a team that SkyView beat 3-2 on April 13.

“We’ve just talked about it as a team from the start of the season, making sure we take care of each other, continue to battle each and every moment and making plays for each other,” said coach Hannah Sunberg. “If we are doing that, then we can add in the other tactical and technical pieces that we need as we go. We need those things to have success.”

One of the hardest thing for us was being a team,” she continued. “We’re not perfect at it but we’re striving for that and definitely trying to do that.We have some seniors and upperclassmen on the team who believe in this and younger players who are willing to buy into it.”

Through 11 matches, freshman Maggie Barrett has 16 goals and four assists for 36 points

“As a whole we have an amazing team but Maggie is certainly a phenomenal athlete and soccer player,” said Sunberg. “One thing that really stands out is her play on both sides of the ball. She certainly makes players around her better and works really hard to make plays for her team.

“Her ability to win 50-50 balls stands out. She makes the team around her better. But it’s not one player, it takes all of them.”

Sophomore Ellie Reynolds leads the team with 40 points with 15 goals and 10 assists. Junior Hailey Gunderson has five goals and two assists while junior Keira Hayat has five goals and an assist.

Sunberg also praised the team’s fullbacks and senior goalkeeper Ekko Hopkins.

“You have to have hot offense and defense,” added Sunberg. “Ekko has had some key saves for us.”

Skyview Academy is now in the Class AA Mile High East League after playing in the 3A Metro League for past eight seasons.

“There’s competition on every level,” said Sunberg. “In soccer or any sport on any given day, anything can happen. We talk that each game the other team has a shot. We have to play our game.

“We’ve talked about being humble and continuing to work towards that and to build ourselves into being the best team we can be. We just have to continue to commit to taking care of our teammates and making plays for each other and not getting caught up of being nervous or putting pressure on ourselves, playing for each moment and then seeing what happens.”