Titans’ soccer season closes with win over Center

“The final week of the season was devastating”

Things went from bad to worse for the Crested Butte Titans soccer team last week before they closed with a win over Center to finish the season in third place in their league with a record of 6-4-2.
The first blow came on Tuesday, October 16 when the Titans lost to Ridgway, ostensibly losing a shot at the post-season.
The Titans then hosted the Alamosa Mean Moose on Thursday, October 18, looking to rid themselves of the sting from the Ridgway loss.
“We were hoping to beat the Mean Moose,” says coach Mike Martin. “We knew we could. The question was, did the kids want it or not?”
Typically the Titans come off tough losses revamped and although hopes were high against Alamosa, the performance fell short. The Titans struggled to find any seams in Alamosa’s notoriously tight defense in the first half and the teams were notched in a scoreless tie at halftime.
Crested Butte opened the second half a bit more inspired but continued to struggle in the offensive third and started wearing down.
Alamosa broke the tie with 15 minutes left in regulation, converting on a corner kick and despite a surge in the final 10 minutes of play from the Titans, it was too little, too late as they fell 1-0.
“We found that we just didn’t have anything left in the tank to face a decent team,” says Martin.
The Titans closed the regular season with a 9-2 win over the Center Vikings.
Senior Jose Cantu opened the scoring three minutes into the game threading his way down the middle to score. Senior Cal Fenerty scored seven minutes later off an assist from senior Dylan Curtiss.
Junior Prawit Durgan netted two more, junior Pal Kollar scored his third goal in the past five games, senior Jesse Reeves scored and sophomore Kaleb Schultz tallied three assists amid the onslaught, as the Titans took a 6-0 lead into halftime.
Sophomore Josh Melnick, junior Ian Dethloff and junior Montana Wiggins each scored in the second half and the Vikings punched two through, one on a penalty kick, as the Titans finished their season with a win.
“It was awesome to see Center keep plugging away,” says Martin. “We played a fun game and had a nice farewell for our seniors.”
Still, the last week hurt and it was a tough pill to swallow when a bid to the post-season was within reach.
“The final week was devastating,” says Martin. “At the beginning of the week we were looking for a playoff spot and by the end of the week, the season was over. We saw a different team than I’ve seen in the past four years. All in all I thought we started the season strong and stayed strong through the middle and it was good to see that consistency. Hopefully, the returning players and the new players can build on that consistency into next season.”