The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
.932 winning percentage on Sunday mornings
No matter what the situation, the Crested Butte Kickers adult soccer team always rallies for the summer-ending Telluride soccer tournament.
Furthermore, no matter what happens on Saturday and Saturday night the Kickers always rally for Sunday morning games.
With players moving in all different directions in August, the fact that the Kickers fielded a team for Telluride August 18-19 was a miracle in and of itself.
Player/manager Drew Canale started with a core of Crested Buttians, calling on Chris Koepe, Joe Ballengeer, Than Acuff, Ian Elder, Bob Piccaro, Brian Fenerty, Lauren Alkire, Molly Keating, Heather Duryea and Polly McGrane to make the trip.
Once in Telluride, the Kickers picked up Anna from Brazil, Mike from Ophir and traveling fungophile Adrian, who happened to be in town for the Telluride Mushroom Festival.
The Kickers opened the tournament on Saturday against one of two stacked hometown Telluride teams. Despite having rarely, if ever, played together as a unit, the Kickers controlled possession for nearly the entire game, resulting in numerous opportunities on net.
Regardless, shots flew wide and the Telluride keeper came up with a couple of big saves. The difference came on two breakaways by Telluride when defensive miscues gave clear runs to net. Kickers keeper Keating closed off both chances but Telluride followed to finish and escape with a 2-0 win.
An hour later the Kickers lined up against Grand Junction and confusion continued to hamper the Kickers. While the back line of Canale, Koepe, Alkire and Ophir Mike was tight, Grand Junction had room to move at midfield, leading to a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Longtime fan and occasional player Dave White offered some sage advice for the beleaguered Crested Butte team during the break.
“Score three goals, and then score one more,” said White.
The Kickers followed suit in the second half as Piccaro assisted Ballengeer for Crested Butte’s first goal of the weekend.
Koepe settled a pass 30 yards out, stalled his defender to drill a shot for the Kickers’ second strike of the day. Koepe proceeded to score off a kick off 10 minutes later and Piccaro dished to Duryea for Crested Butte’s fourth goal of the half.
Keating came up with a huge 1-on-1 save to keep Kicker comeback hopes alive but Crested Butte gave up two more goals to Grand Junction in the process to fall 5-4.
The Kickers lost a couple of players between Saturday’s game and the “Toilet Bowl” match-up Sunday morning against Westminster.
With just one sub to work with, the Kickers found their Sunday morning magic to build a 3-0 lead in the first half.
McGrane was moved up front to provide speed and control and Elder stepped up with end-to-end hustle in the midfield, making a world of difference in the Kickers’ play.
Acuff drilled a set play low into the box and Duryea tapped it by the Westminster keeper for a 1-0 lead. Piccaro put the Kickers up 2-0, chasing down a loose ball in the penalty area and finding the corner, and Koepe closed the half with a goal.
Ten minutes into the second half, Koepe carried the ball to the end line and crossed it low and hard for Piccaro to punch through for a 4-0 Kickers lead.
Westminster countered to score five minutes later but the Kickers responded when Acuff took a pass from Duryea at the top of the box and curled the shot far post for a 5-1 lead.
Westminster tallied their second goal and looked to build momentum until Koepe scored off the ensuing kick-off draining Westminster of any little energy they had left.
Fenerty led one last stand by the Kickers to hold off a final push by Westminster and Crested Butte closed the weekend with a 6-3 win, bringing their overall Sunday morning record over the past 20 years of tournament play to 43-2-2.
