Titans soccer focuses on first round of state tournament

“We have to prove ourselves”

The seedings for the 3A state soccer tournament were released this past Sunday afternoon and the Crested Butte Titans were handed a slight blow when they were ranked 18th out of 32 teams. As a result, they will face 15th-ranked Holy Family out of Denver on Friday, October 25 at Ben Oswald Park in Salida at 3 p.m.
Despite finishing their league on top with a perfect 12-0 record, 13-2 overall, the Titans were denied a top-16 seed, with losses to non-conference teams hurting the Titans in the final seedings process.
“It’s unfortunate they gave us that 18 seed because of those losses, because we were just getting the team together then,” says coach Drew Canale. “But we were shooting to finish in the middle of 32 seeds in order to draw a match-up in which we could compete, and we did that.”
“It is what it is—nothing we can do about it,” added coach Than Acuff. “We have to prove to the state that we are better than they give us credit for. We have to prove ourselves.”
It will be a tough go for the Titans as they finished up the regular season on Saturday, October 13 and headed straight into the October break. The team held workouts over the break and had this week to prepare for the first round game but it will have been 12 days since their last game.
“I think the break actually helped us heal from random injuries and gave us time to prepare for the first round of state,” says Canale.
In an effort to ready the team for the highly competitive nature of Front Range soccer, the team will continue working on heavy pressure on the ball, handling pressure with the ball and fine-tuning set plays.
“The training has been going pretty well,” says Canale. “The team seems to be taking training very seriously.”
The Titans have been to the state tournament six times the past 10 years but have never made it past the first round. This year, while 18th is lower than expected, it is better than ever before and that could bode well for the Crested Butte team.
“I’m not familiar with Holy Family but basically we expect any first-round team to be physically big, fast and skilled,” says Canale. “It’s going to take the team playing their best soccer as a team. It has to be a team effort.”
“There’s no question Holy Family will be tough,” adds Acuff. “But, it is a winnable game if we put it all together for every minute of the game.”
If the Titans win on Friday, they head back to Salida on Saturday, October 26 to face Salida, the second-ranked team in the state.
“We played them in a preseason scrimmage and they have a strong team,” says Canale. “But right now we just have to focus on Holy Family.”
The game will be at Ben Oswald Park on Friday at 3 p.m. and the team hopes to get fans to make the trip to help push the Titans through the first round. For any fans interested, just take Highway 50 toward Salida and turn left on Holman Avenue. Coming from Poncha Springs, the turn is before the main drag of hotels and restaurants on 50.