Titans soccer falls in first round of state

HOLY FAMILY!

The Crested Butte Titans soccer team ran into a buzz saw on Friday, October 25 when they lined up against Holy Family in the first round of the 3A state soccer tournament.
Hopes were high, but guarded, for success in the first round. While it was the highest seed the Titans ever received at the state tournament, they drew the 15th seeded Holy Family team, which was coming out of arguably the top league in the state.
“We expected to play well and compete,” says coach Drew Canale.
“Our expectations were to work hard—do anything we could do to get the win,” adds senior captain Ian Dethloff.
There was no doubt the Titans needed to put their best effort together if they wanted a shot at an upset but in the end the speed, size and skill of Holy Family proved too much to handle.
“I was impressed by the high level of play at the state level,” says Canale.
After a frantic 10 minutes during which Holy Family pressed the Titans into their own zone, the Titans defense made the adjustments to stave off the attack. Unfortunately, the Titans were dealt a blow when Holy Family converted on a corner kick.
Insult was added to injury when starting center back Danny Stoneberg had to leave the game with a hip injury. While adjustments were made to compensate, Holy Family’s pressure exploited the Titans once again to go up 2-0, 15 minutes into the game.
“It always tough to get scored on first,” says Canale. “I felt the defense played well, it just took them 15 minutes to really settle in.”
As time wore on, the Titans made headway into the offensive third but passes under pressure repeatedly missed their marks and Holy Family’s defense disrupted every Titan attack.
The Titans did find some seams in the Holy Family defense midway through the half to get a couple of chances but struggled to find the final touch. Holy Family then pulled ahead 3-0 with a goal in the final five minutes of the half.
“I felt that if we were down a goal, we would still be in the game but three goals is too deep a hole to dig out of against a team as talented as Holy Family,” says coach Than Acuff.
Despite the nearly insurmountable deficit, the Titans made a point of not breaking down as a team. Isaac Evans and Prawit Durgan continued to find room in midfield and battled hard for every loose ball. Meanwhile, Josh Melnick had the defense tight with Thomas Taaca shutting down Holy Family on his side and keeper Dethloff coming off his line several times to break up Holy Family attacks.
The true final blow came early in the second half when Holy Family slipped a fourth goal through. Despite the bludgeoning, the Titans refused to fold completely. They continued to work the flanks and the work of Dakota Wiggins and Solon Gray on the sidelines finally came around to produce scoring chances, but Holy Family’s defense was there to clear away shot opportunities.
Holy Family finished the Titans off with a fifth and final goal, handing Crested Butte another first-round state tournament loss.
“We didn’t come out as the team that we are and we gave up two goals and never really got back into the game,” says Dethloff.
“To the team’s credit, they didn’t drop their heads,” says Canale. “They played a much better second half and I’m proud of how they played.”
“Fact is, there’s some good soccer out there and if we ever want to compete on the big stage, we have to bring our level up a couple more notches,” adds Acuff.
In the end, the Titans finished the season 13-3 overall, 12-0 in league play.
“I would say the season was a success,” says Canale. “Our league doesn’t really match up as strong as the rest of the state, but to go undefeated took a lot of hard work.”
“We feel pretty good about going 12-0 in our league,” adds Dethloff. “A Crested Butte team has never done that. But I think we’re all sort of bummed about our performance in the last game of the season.”