The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Breaking the habit
With 30 players and a rush of young talent this season, coach Than Acuff is taking the opportunity to mix up the formation. The bad news is, the new formation has the team all mixed up.
Ultimately, breaking the formation habit will hopefully lead to breaking another habit—second place. For the past three seasons, the Titans soccer team has finished in second place in the league, setting them up with a tough draw in the state tournament.
The Titans lost a plethora of offense when the three top scorers from last year graduated. That leaves some big shoes to fill this year but with 30 players on the roster this season, the right mix is in there, somewhere.
Seniors Jenner Currier, Connor McGuire and Ricky Sandoval return to fill their starting roles from last season and senior Emmett McFarland has returned to action this season as well, adding speed to the already fast defensive back.
Juniors Sky Egelhoff, Henry Linehan, Sam Evans and Mick Osmundson provide additional experience, with all four coming off large starting roles as sophomores, as well as junior goaltender Ben Frame. But the key to the Titans’ success this season may lie at the feet of the sophomores and freshmen, as players from both classes will be asked to step into pivotal varsity roles this season.
Fortunately, Acuff has some help this year. In addition to returning assistant coach Meredith McNamara, Mike Martin stepped into an assistant coaching role, offering his keen insight into the game.
The team kicked off their season with the classic two-a-day schedule for two weeks of preseason, working primarily on ball skills and building a fitness base.
They closed preseason with the annual hike to Aspen and a scrimmage against the Aspen high school. While the varsity lost 3-1 and the JV 1-0, there were some glimpses of hope that the team may be making the adjustment to the new formation.
The first official test for the Titans will come this weekend as they head to Colorado Springs to compete in the Classical Academy tournament.
Their first home game will be against banana-belt powerhouse Salida on Thursday, September 10 at 4 p.m.
